The Ministry of Industry announced that foreign currency wastage has been saved by using biomass obtained from the Prosopis juliflora weed in cement factories.
Information from the Ministry indicated that by using the Prosopis juliflora weed, which is widely spreading in the Afar and Somali regions, as an energy alternative, it has been possible to replace imported production inputs.
According to the ministry, since cement factories have started using the biomass from the weed as an input, it has been possible to reduce imported coal and save 2 million US dollars in foreign currency wastage.
FBC stated that the biomass produced from the Prosopis juliflora weed currently replaces up to 20 percent of the coal used by cement factories.