Ethiopia’s leading private livestock exporter known as “Shag Company” says it would ship nearly a quarter of a million heads of cattle estimated at 20 million USD to abroad this fiscal year.

The company, the number one government award winner this year for its excellent export performance, will export 245,000 heads of cattle, Company Owner Shiferaw Assefa Gebre-silassie pointed out in an interview with ENA on Wednesday. Some 200,000 sheep, 30,000 oxen and 15,000 camels will be exported to Egypt mainly.

According to Shiferaw, if the company manages to export and sell the stated number of live animals at an anticipated price, Ethiopia would get about 20 million USD raising the amount of foreign currency it secures from the company’s export by close to 75 percent compared to that of last year.

Shag had shipped an over seven million USD worth cattle last year enabling it to win a trophy last December from the government as it stood first in enabling the nation to get largest amount of hard currency from the sector.

Shiferaw indicated that his company has shipped 64,000 heads of cattle in the last seven months.

Asked how the company could manage to export the large quantity of unshipped heads of cattle (179,000) in the remaining five of this budget year, Shiferaw replied that the peak season for live animal market is Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month, which is closing in.

Regarding the support of the government to the sector, Shiferaw indicated that the abolition of taxes such as excise tax and annual awards, among others, are some of the incentives the local exporters are enjoying.

However, he said, the government has still to do a lot of things to tackle the problems of quarantine and illegal livestock trade, which he described as “stumbling block” to the development of the sector.

Shiferaw further said though the demand for live animals has been growing in the middle east countries, absence of international standard quarantines locally, many buyers decline to import from Ethiopia reducing the nation’s potential of making the badly needed hard currency as desired.

But it is worthwhile to mention that the government has now planned to build world-class quarantines in Metema, Dire Dawa and Afar in north and east parts of Ethiopia respectively, he added.

Shag has received three trophies from the government for its excellence in export performance since its inception over a decade ago.

Assignment 8:00-1:05 PM

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