The Ethiopia Commodity Exchange traded about $1.2 billion, or 33.8 billion birr, of commodities in the 2018/19 budget year that ended July 7, 2019, its CEO said.
Trading activity at the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange, July 2011 (UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office / Wikimedia Commons, OGL v1.0) [file photo]
CEO Wondimagegnehu Negera said volume reached 681,845 tonnes, above a target of 673,057 tonnes. Coffee and sesame dominated, with about 45 percent and 34 percent of trade respectively, 2merkato reported, citing APA, ENA and Fana.
Two electronic trading centers built for more than $700,000, or 20 million birr, opened in Hawassa and Humera during the year. Since opening in 2008–11 as a national multi-commodity platform, ECX said it had traded more than $8.2 billion, or 237 billion birr, overall.
For the new fiscal year the exchange planned warehouse-receipt financing so farmers could borrow against goods stored in ECX warehouses, starting with maize and later commodities such as niger seed, green mung bean, red apricot and cotton. ENA reported a 2019/20 target of about 788,970 tonnes worth 35.6 billion birr.
Sources: 2merkato (APA/ENA/Fana), Ethiopian News Agency