Ethiopia invites private sector to address cement shortage

To end the chronic shortage of cement in the market, Ethiopia’s Ministry of Trade and Industry has prepared a new guideline to introduce the private sector to the supply chain. The measure went into effect from 31 August 2020.

State Minister of Trade and Industry, Eshete Asfaw, said the guidelines are mainly prepared to sustain the supply chain and allow the private sector to take part in cement supply in the country.

Previously the Ministry had decided that only governmental organisations would supply cement directly from the factories. Guna Trading House Plc, Ambasel Trading House Plc, Biftu Adugna Business SC, Ethiopian Industrial Input Development Enterprise and the Ethiopian Trade Works Corporation were authorised to exclusively wholesale but now this has been extended to include private sector enterprises.

The shortage of cement has been attributed by Minister of Trade and Industry, Melaku Alebel, to a lack of spare parts, power outages, lack of inputs including raw materials, security issues and lack of leadership and professional skills.

Mr Alebel said the ministry has prepared short-, medium- and long-term measures to address the shortage. In the short term around 3Mt of cement will be imported in the next three months and companies with foreign currency accounts will be able to import cement. As a long-term solution, the ministry is working to increase the production capacity of cement plants and has also allocated US$85m to alleviate the shortage of spare parts, according to Capital Ethiopia.