Derba Midroc says that it will revert to normal delivery of cement orders in three weeks time following the maintenance of a broken machine in December 8, 2014.

The company is taking as long as three months to deliver prepaid orders, leading to price increases in the market. The company says its machine broke down four months ago, forcing its client retailers to switch to other factories, some of which had increased prices following the shortage in the market

Tesfaye Zewde, a retailer on Asmera Road, along the way from Megenagna to Kotebe, stopped ordering from Derba since October; the last order he made then is yet to be delivered to him. He now makes orders to Bedrok and Muger, that made deliveries in one and three days, respectively. The owner, who declined to be named, of Muez Cement shop along the same road, said that one particular factory had increased prices from 185Br per quintal to 230 Br, currently.

"Whenever Derba cement is available abundantly, other cement factories decrease their price to be competitive in the market, because many customers would like to buy Derba," he added.

Derba has only been delivering very large orders, accused Asfaw Ejigu, a retailer, he and others complaining that the company s failure to deliver had led to the creation of brokers who bought large quantities from the factory to sell to the retailers with a 10Br markup per quintal. Asfaw has been getting his cement supply from other factories, such as Muger, Mossobo and Bedrok, since August.

Derba tells the businesses that the delivery problem was a result of machinery shortage, power interruption, transport problems and absence of supply, says Tesfaye, although another retailer claimed shifting to other factories 11 months ago because of delivery problem.

The delay is caused by a breakdown of one of the three machinery, which occurred four months, but was already fixed by December 8, says Haile Assegd, Derba s CEO. The three machines each have a capacity of 26,000qt a day, with one of these machines dedicated to the Grand Renaissance Dam project, which takes 15,000qt to 20,000qt, Haile says. The market has been getting for the last months what the factory produces with only one of the three machines, which is about 30,000qt. The machine that has been fixed is now being used to service the overdue orders, after the end of which the cement will be available to the general market, Haile said.

Inaugurated on February 5, 2012, Derba cement was established with a capital of 2.8 billion Br by Sheik Mohammed Ali-Amoudi, with a 200 million dollar loan from the European Investment Bank, Africa Development Bank (ADB), International Finance Corporation (IFC), and Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE). It uses 1000 Volvo trucks to make delivery currently the factory has above 55,000 customers.