Ethiopia: Smokey Perfume

The small scale retailers and the larger scale distributors are both found in the narrow section of Mercato where local and export standard incense is available for retail on a large or micro scale

Zemenay Yilma, a young mother of two, is a regular buyer of incense, although she rarely steps foot in Etan terra - Merkato's own market for small and medium incense retailers.

For her, the use of incense is an integral part of the Ethiopian coffee ceremony, which is performed twice daily in her home. This makes the purchase of incense a weekly errand for Zemenay. Since she only uses a small amount, however, she mostly buys her incense from vendors that line the streets outside churches.

But, on Wednesday May 08, 2013, she had a court appointment that took her to Merkato, where she decided to buy a larger supply of Etan.

"It is more expensive here, but there are many varieties," she told Fortune. "But, even with the vendors near churches, prices are increasing and I get a smaller portion for the same value of money, especially over the past year."

Merkato's Etan Terra is in a small nook on a narrow and dirty alleyway, just off the main road by Me'rab Hotel. Unlike the bigger niche markets; Military Terra and Kimem terra, which occupy several blocks, only half of the narrow alleyway is dedicated to selling incense.

But, in this narrow corner, most of Merkato's incense retailers congregate early, starting at six in the morning, to participate in a trading activity that has been common in the country, as far back as the Axumite Kingdom. Ethiopia's rich natural gum resources, which include; gum Arabic (Mucha), gum olibanum (incense), myrrh (Kerbe) and opaponax (Abeked), were being transported past the Red Sea, using camels and ships, even then.

Currently, 2.8 to 3.5 million hectares of land in Ethiopia, predominantly in the Northern and Eastern Part of the country, is covered by trees that produce natural gum resins.

Gum, especially incense, still remains a major export commodity, with 3,500tns, worth around 11.8 million dollars, sold in 2011/12. In the west, it has many industrial purposes, including - in the production of confectionery, food and beverages, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products.

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