Ethiopia opens Commodity Exchange
With rising food prices causing chaos around the world it is interesting to see how different countries are tackling the crisis. Ethiopia has used a range of strategies, including subsidised grain for lower income urban dwellers, who are struggling with rising grain prices.
But on 4th April this year Ethiopia opened a Commodity Exchange, launched with funds of 194 million Birr (c£11 million) from the Ethiopian Government which, it is hoped, will alleviate the vicissitudes of commodity trading in the country.
At the launch Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Addisu Legesse, said that the Commodity Exchange (ECX) is a new initiative for Ethiopia and the first of its kind in Africa.
The vision of ECX is to revolutionize Ethiopia's agriculture by creating a new marketplace. The ECX is a unique partnership of market actors, the Members of the Exchange, and its main promoter, the Government of Ethiopia.
ECX represents the future of Ethiopia, bringing integrity, security, and efficiency to the market. ECX creates opportunities for unparalleled growth in the commodity sector and linked industries, such as transport and logistics, banking and financial services, among others.
Chief Executive Officer of the Exchange, Ms Eleni Gabre-Madhin, PhD said that the vision of ECX is to revolutionize Ethiopia's tradition-bound agriculture by creating a new marketplace that serves all market actors - farmers, traders, processors, exporters and consumers. "ECX assures all commodity market players the security they need in the market through providing a secure and reliable end to end system for handling, grading, and storing commodities, matching offers and bids for commodity transactions, and a risk free payment and goods delivery system to settle transactions, while serving all fairly and efficiently."
"We have started our exchange with maize, wheat, haricot beans and sesame seeds, but will include tea and coffee," Ms Gabre-Madhin said. ECX will have warehouses in Addis Ababa, Bure, Humera, Nazreth, Nekemte and Shashemene, But we have a plan to increase the centres to ten" she added.
Source: The Ethiopian Embassy press office, London
For further information contact:
The Ethiopian Embassy press office, London
020 7838 3880
Eleni Gabre-Madhin
E.GABRE-MADHIN@CGIAR.ORG -
Commodity Exchange website
http://www.ecx.com.et/
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