B & C Aluminium, a local pioneer in Aluminium production, has inked a deal with a Sudanese company. This places B & C as the first local aluminium producing company to export its products to the outside market.
The deal was signed at Harmony Hotel, off Cameron Street, with the Sudanese counterpart – Abader International for Multi Activities – on September 17, 2016.
The partnership between the two companies has come after B & C requested to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ethiopia), three months ago, to get a partner from Sudan.
“The Ministry has facilitated the negotiations before the signing of the deal in a short period of time,” Biruk Haile, managing director of B & C, told Fortune.
B & C has agreed to supply Abader 200tn of Aluminium profile, annually. In return, Abader will be granted with the title of being the exclusive local agent of B & C for both the Sudan and Chad markets.
“Given the preferential trade agreement the two countries have, and again being under the umbrella of Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), we will have an advantage over the market,” said Biruk.
The majority of the Aluminium market in Sudan is dominated by those imported from the Middle East and China. Those imported from these two sources are taxed up to 30 to 45pc, while Ethiopia’s commodities have a better advantage.
Sudan’s annual consumption of aluminium ranges from 7,000 to 8,000tn, while Ethiopia’s reaches up to 12,000tn. The price to the Sudanese market will be determined by the international market, mostly in reference to the London Metal Exchange index. According to the current price, one kilo of Aluminium fares from four to five dollars.
Currently, B & C is producing 3,000tn to 4,000tn of aluminium annually. Its production capacity, however, can reach up to 15,000tn a year. The company claims to cover 40pc of the Ethiopian market, while the rest is covered by imports.
Established 13 years ago, as a local distributor, B & C is now a major player in the industry. It started to produce aluminium sheets four years ago in its factory on the outskirts of the capital on 6,000sqm of land. It began as a company with an initial capital of one million Br.
Currently, the company employs around 400 workers and has boosted its capital to 50 million Br.
With the latest agreement with Abader, B & C will start the first export delivery within one month, where it will use in land transport. In the future, the two sides have agreed that B & C will increase the export volume by 30pc every year.
Last, year Ethiopia imported 3,290tn of aluminium profile, almost a 30pc increase from 2014, and spent 9.9 million dollars, according to data from the Ethiopian Revenues & Custom Authority (ERCA).
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