Ethiopia benefits from China's tariff policy

ADDIS ABABA - China-Africa Overseas Leather Factory in Ethiopia said on Sunday it is significantly benefited from the tariff-free policy of China for least developed countries (LDCs) that are exporting to China.

"This policy helps us a lot because all of our products are for exporting. So it helps us to enter the international market and be competitive. Not only for us, it also encourages other investors to come to Ethiopia and invest here because they will be benefited a lot from this policy," said Yaecob Tadesse, the administrative manager of the company, which is situated in Sululta town, some 30 km north of Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia.

During its first anniversary on Sunday, the company also announced its plan to earn about $15 million from export of processed leather products in the coming year, by taking all the advantages created and overcoming its challenges it faced in the first year operation.

In its one-year performance the company has secured about $4.1 million amid several challenges, Tadesse said.

During the recently concluded G-20 summit in Cannes and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Honolulu, the Chinese President Hu Jintao announced that China would give duty- free status to 97 percent of the tariff items of exports to China from the LDCs, provided they have diplomatic relations with his country.

Tadesse told Xinhua that the tariff-policy by the Chinese government helps the company to be competitive in the international market.

"Though we have faced many problems as a newly established company, we have managed to produce and export more than 3 million square feet of leather products within one year, " said Yaecob.

The tariff-free policy has significant benefit not only for their company but also for other companies that are investing in Ethiopia and exporting to China, said Yaecob.

"In the coming year we have a plan to produce six million square feet sheep finished leather for glove and 3.6 million square feet finished leather for shoe, upper to earn 15 million dollars from the export," he said.

The manager said most of the company's customers are in China.

The China-Africa Overseas Leather Company started operation in November 2010, following completion of the construction within one year.