Ethiopian Review

Addis Ababa – A private company known as Guna Trading House has exported sesame and natural gum valued close to 27 million us dollars in the last 10 months in the face of drastic fall of the prices of oilseeds in the global market, its General Manager (GM) disclosed.

In an exclusive interview with ENA on Wednesday, the GM, Mulualem Berhane said Guna has exported over the 19,500 tons of sesame and gum enabling the nation to secure 25.4 million and 1.5 million USD form the two products respectively over the stated period.

Despite the fall of demand in oilseeds due to the world economic downturn, the company has managed to sell 6,500 tons of more sesame between March 2008 and May 2009 (10 months) than that of last year’s same period, Mulualem said.

The GM said the amount of foreign currency generated from the company’s export during the reported period exceeds by 3.5 million USD against that of last year same period by 3.5 million

According to the GM, the company has planned to sell 20,000 tons of sesame worth 30 million USD in this Ethiopian fiscal year, but has already sold 19,000 tons accomplishing 87 per cent of its target.

Asked how the company managed to achieve such a success in the face of price fall in the global market, Mulualem replied that by increasing the volume of export as much as possible and making use of new market outlets.

He further said generosity of the government in making available adequate loan, and building of a modern warehouse, have enabled the company to raise its export capacity along the installation of a standard sesame cleaning machine also helped it to achieve the success.

Local oilseeds’ exporters used to enjoy huge profits from the seeds due to the global market bonanza for over decade until the beginning of the fall in the price in 2008 due to the crisis.

The prices of oilseeds have plummeted since July 2008 due to the crisis sending dozens of local exporters to bankruptcy, according to Mulualem. The price of sesame, for instance, has dropped from 2,500-2,800 USD per ton before July 2,008 to 1,400 USD now on average.

Guna Trading House exports on average 10,000 tons of sesame valued at 11 million USD on average per annum since it was established 17 years ago until 1999 EC. But, its export volume jumped to 20,000 tons in 2000 EC while the foreign currency the country gets rose to 27 million USD same period.

Oilseeds are 2nd in terms generating the country’ export revenue after coffee.

- ENA