Coffee Exports Continue to Soar

May 15 , 2021


Record coffee export earnings were reported for the second month in a row as the Coffee & Tea Authority announced that the country earned 114 million dollars from exporting 28,000tn of coffee between early April and May 2021. The amount beats last month's figure of 107 million dollars for 27,000tn to become the highest-ever amount earned from coffee exports in a single month. Policy adjustments and better integration between players in the coffee value chains, from farmers to collectors and exporters, are the reason behind the improved earnings, according to the Authority. Coffee accounts for around a third of Ethiopia's total export earnings of an annual average of 2.5 billion dollars and contributes an estimated five percent to the country's GDP. In the past fiscal year, 271,000tn of coffee was exported, generating 854 million dollars. Close to half of the coffee produced in Ethiopia is consumed domestically. By the end of the last fiscal year, the country had 418 licensed exporters and around six million farmers involved in cultivating coffee on over 650,000ha of land.


Radar

HEFTY GREEN

Street vendors around the Shola area take a rest in the shades of the capital's newly planted trees. Upon reporting on its 10-month performance before Parliament, the Agriculture Minister, Girma Amentie indicated that up to 43pc of the arable land in the country has been rendered acidic. This requires large amounts of limestone to be imported from abroad; the tight forex crunch has not allowed the Ministry of Finance to fund the endeavour easily. Following the rallying call of the Prime Minister...


Radar

DAMP DENIMS

Residents of communal houses around the Weji area hang their clothes on the fences outside. Textile manufacturing accounts for 87pc of Ethiopia's products from industrial parks. Expulsion from the African Growth & Opportunity Act (AGOA) due to the war in the North resulted in Ethiopia being expelled from the preferential trade act. Most companies choosing to rent sheds within the industrial parks do so out of a desire to access the duty-free privileges provided for African countries. Ethiopi...


Radar

PRICY PLEASURES

Vendors put traditional beauty products from the Somali Regional State for sale around Mexico area. In November of last year, the Ministry of Finance banned imported goods under 38 categories, including cosmetics, packed foods, and furniture, from accessing letters of credit. The move resulted in the tripling of costs for cosmetic items like lipstick and nail polish. As Ethiopia ran a 14 billion dollar merchandise trade deficit last year due to import bills hiking by 26pc , a tight clampdown on...