A Fifth Measure for the Export Scorecard

A Fifth Measure for the Export Scorecard

Aug 29 , 2026.

Dear Editor,

Your editorial headlined, “Exports Record Worth Having. They Worth More as a Beginning” [Volume 27, Number 1373, August 22, 2026] is right that Ethiopia should judge export performance by more than the headline total.

Concentration by commodity, the share of processed goods, the number of new markets, and the value added at home would all tell policymakers more than another record alone. However, a measure of what the producer receives is still missing.

Coffee makes the omission especially visible. Ethiopia reports export earnings and volumes. The Coffee & Tea Authority (CTA) publishes a minimum export price every week. Yet there is no equivalent recurring regional series showing what growers were actually paid under a stated method.

Without a reliable farm-gate record, claims about the producer's share of export value cannot be independently checked. Nor can policymakers readily distinguish a record export year from a record year for growers.

The editorial also argues that traceability should be treated as an opportunity rather than a nuisance. That opportunity should not end with documenting where coffee was grown. A system capable of following coffee from the farm through the export chain could also help establish what happened economically at the first sale.

Ethiopia should measure export concentration, processing, market reach and value added. It should add a fifth, measuring what the person who produced the export received. A record is worth having, but a complete account would be worth more.

Wondwossen Mezlekia

wondwossen.mezlekia@gmail.com

PUBLISHED ON Aug 29,2026 [ VOL 27 , NO 1374]