BUSINESS ROUND-UP: Transport fares likely to increase despite fuel price fall

The Association for Transport Companies (ATRACO) has expressed no plans to reduce transport fares despite a reduction in fall prices. Colonel (rtd) Dodo Twahirwa, the president of ATRACO, said they are instead planning to ask Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA), a body in charge of regulating public utilities.He explained that in the past fuel prices have increased yet transport did not increase in proportion to fuel costs. In June this year RURA announced an increase in transport charges of Frw20 coming to Frw170 in Kigali while up-country fares increased depending on the distance. On October 6, fuel dealers in the country implemented new tariffs reduced by 4.761 per cent as requested by government.This saw pump price for petrol reduced from Frw924 to Frw880 while diesel was reduced to Frw870 from Frw924. There was expectation that the drop in fuel prices would be followed by a reduction in transport fares, food prices, and inflation and improve trade in general which was attributed to the cost of fuel. Colonel Diogène Mudenge, the director general of RURA, said they are making some studies but there may not be a significant impact. Rwandan coffee auction postponed Ocir-Café, Rwanda’s Coffee Development Authority, postponed online auctioning of some 24 Rwandan coffees which won the prestigious Cup of Excellence (COE) award. Alex Kanyakole, Director General of Ocir-Café, explained that the event scheduled for October 14, 2008 was extended to October 23 due to the ongoing World Specialty Coffee Conference and Exhibition in Tokyo, Japan. He said they felt the auction would not get enough attention from international coffee buyers and sellers. Kanyakole said that the winning coffee samples were sent to 160 companies in 25 countries worldwide for examination before making bids at the auctioning in Rwanda. The coffees were selected in August this year during the first international cup of excellence competition in Africa. Freight company ups operations in Rwanda SDV Transami, an international freight handling company, has increased its operation in the country with investment in a $2.6 million (Frw1.4 billion) Inland Container Depot (ICD). Rodolphe Kembukuswa, the managing director of SDV Transami Rwanda, said the first and only ICD in Rwanda covering 18,000 square metres with warehousing facilities of 6,000 square metres will offer the Rwandan business community quality services. The company now has the capability to offer a total of logistics solutions with full range of services, including tracking of cargo from port of discharge to delivered door with appropriate claims management. The ICD can operate as hub to cover all imports, exports and transit cargo in Rwanda.SDV has operations in others East African countries and operates in 45 countries in Africa. Local company benefits from Uganda’s annual trade fairMedecine manufacturers, Dufatanye Association said they benefited from Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA) Trade Fair last week. Sibomana Bosco, the company’s director, said it was their first attendance but they capitalised on selling and marketing their products and also making business contacts. He said many clients that visited their stall requesting that they open up new branches while others wanted to be their distributors. The association makes medicine using natural ingredients such as Aloe Vera to treat a number of health complications including skin diseases, diabetes, syphilis, blood pressure, cardiac asthma and addictions to smoking and alcohol among others. Among the foreign exhibitors from the region, Kenyan traders mostly selling hand crafts and traditional African clothes dominated the one week Ugandan trade fair that ended on Monday. Riepa seeks to increase exportsRwanda Investment and Export Promotion Agency (Riepa), the agency tasked to promote exports, is seeking to increase the country’s export volume and value through continuous dialogues with exporters. This was revealed in the first ever brainstorming meeting between Riepa and Rwanda’s exporters to provide solutions to export barriers and also suggest incentive packages to improve exports. Francis Gatare, Director General of Riepa, said the dialoguing would help set realistic export targets, address export barriers and underscores incentive packages that help to increase exports. He added that exports are crucial for economic development since each export contributes greatly to the achievement of economic development and poverty reduction. Rwanda is targeting $425.5m (Frw234.5b) in exports by 2012. Last year the county’s exports were $202m (Frw111.6b) but government plans to increase the figure to $234m (Frw129b) this year. Coffee and tea are the country’s main exports and highest foreign exchange earners along with tourism. Mobile phones to transfer moneyPublicel, a local private company, is set to introduce mobile money transfer using handset in a bid to reduce hurdles of transferring cash. The company’s head of the project, Christian Syaka said they will be using Short Message Services (SMS) from MTN and a toll-free phone line from Rwandatel to accomplish their mission. He however revealed that details regarding the technical operations will be available soon ahead of the official launch of the initiative in December this year. Ends