#ASDailyScoop: City Mayor says Sheger Bakery to resume distribution tomorrow
Addis Abeba – Adanech Abiebie, Mayor of Addis Abeba city, said this morning that Sheger Bakery will resume services of providing bread to city residents as of tomorrow. The Mayor said the city government has subsidized the Bakery to a tune of ETB613 million and ETB198 million for wheat supply in order to resume production and distribution of bread to the city’s low income community.
“As the product goes on sale tomorrow, the community can get bread at our distribution centers,” Adanech said.
“We respectfully call on the business community of our city to be considerate of one another, reduce your profits for the time being and benefit your people.”
Adanech Abiebie
“However, it is known that there are shortages especially in reaching to the priority segments of the society,” the Mayor said, adding that although the city administration has taken steps to monitor this, there are indications that better-off businesses and investors are taking advantage of the government’s subsidy to make profits.
The Mayor called on the community to play its part in pointing out, exposing, and controlling this situation. She also said the city government “respectfully call on the business community of our city to be considerate of one another, reduce your profits for the time being and benefit your people.”
Sheger Bakery, a Bakery which was expected to cater millions in Addis Abeba with subsidized and consistent bread supply, has ceased production and distribution last month, barely a year and half after its much-hailed inauguration.
Built by MIDROC Ethiopia, which is owned by the Ethio-Saudi billionaire, Sheikh Mohammed Hussien Al Amoudi, at a cost of 900 million birr, this state-of-the-art bakery was expected to produce 1.8 million loaves of bread a day and 80,000 per hour, according to a statement distributed at its inauguration back in June 2020. But already, as far back as January 2021, just six months into its inauguration, the Bakery had stated that it had lost 70 million birr in the first five months alone, and attributed the loss to the price hikes and lack of inputs. However, despite the challenges, the Bakery was able to produce between 700,000 to 800,000 loaves of bread per day and was distributing its products to city residents through more than 400 retail shops located in and around Addis Abeba, including from converted city buses. AS
