Abebe Dinku Water & Non-Alcoholic Beverages, a bottler of one of the newest waters, Top Water, has closed a 20-year deal with a Saudi Arabian company to export water.

Abebe Dinku signed the deal with Al Naba Jeldi Water Company last month and has geared up to ship the first batch of bottled water. The firm is expected to deliver the supplies as soon as Saudi Arabia lifts its lockdown. Al Naba Jeldi Water Company, a subsidiary of Al Naba Commerical Enterprises, was established in Najran, Saudi Arabia, in 1999 and has its plant located near Najran’s valley.

Before inking the deal, the two parties completed a three-month testing and sampling process. The agreement was to export bottled water in 350ml and 600ml sizes with the first shipment, which is worth one million dollars. The first batch of the delivery will consist of 10 40-foot containers filled with 1,000 of the 350ml size and 6,668 of the 600ml size bottles.

“We opened a letter of credit (LC) to ship the first batch," said Abebe Dinku, founder of the company, "but due to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), we haven’t been able to ship the first batch since Saudi Arabia has closed its ports."

Established with an investment of 273 million Br in Tatek Geffersa Nono Wereda of Burayu town, 18Km north of the capital, the company operates with 512 employees. It can produce 126,000 bottles of water an hour.

“We were also asked to supply a 200ml size,” said Shimelis Ajemma, marketing manager of the company. “With the current moulds we have, we aren’t able to bottle 200ml.”

The company ordered a new 200ml size mould two weeks ago, according to Shimelis, who said they expect it to be delivered in two months.

“The export benefit isn’t much compared to the local sales, but it has its own perks since it will give us foreign exchange, and value added tax (VAT) and excise tax are also completely revoked if a bottler is engaged in exporting," he added.