Ethiopia has earned 722.4 US million dollars from export of pulses, oilseeds and spices last Ethiopian fiscal year, Ministry of Trade (MoT) revealed. Opening the 6th International Conference on Pulses, Oilseeds and Spices today, MoT State Minister Assad Zayed said even though the international price for agricultural commodities is volatile, the pulses, oil seeds and spices sub-sector has earned a total of 722.4 million US dollars during the first year of the Second GTP because of the integrated efforts of all stakeholders.
The state minister, however, urged stakeholders to do their level best for the successful accomplishment of the objectives of GTP II as the current performance has fallen short of the targeted 1.26 billon US dollars. He pointed out that Ethiopia is paying due attention to increasing production and productivity, exporting value-added items, widening and diversifying market destinations during the Growth and Transformation plan period.
According to Assad, the progress made in the sub-sector and the market modernization at Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) on online trading and implementation of traceability has become a benchmark for many African countries. Ethiopian Pulses, Oilseeds and Spices Producers Exporters Association (EPOSPEA) President, Haile Berhe said the association is working to compensate for the gap in earnings caused mainly by international price fluctuation by increasing quantity of export produces.
Efforts are also underway to diversify market linkages by sending business delegations and hosting various trade missions across the globe, he added. The president said the conference will create forum for both existing and new clients to expand market and business linkage by addressing the challenges the sector faces.
”The market opportunity that both our exporters and importers will have at the end of the deliberations through business-to-business linkages and networking is the central milestone this conference intends to achieve,” Haile noted.
Exporters of pulses, oilseeds and spices that obtained huge sums of foreign exchange were given awards during the conference. International importers coming from 20 countries, representatives of public and private sectors are in attendance of the two-day conference.