Ethiopia earned just under 2.2 billion dollars from exports of commodities in the first ten months of this fiscal year, an 8.4pc decrease from the same period last year. This is despite the government’s plan to earn 3.5 billion dollars within the same period. Commodities such as coffee, tea, flowers, fruit, vegetables, meat, textiles, electricity and seed oil were items that showed good performance. The export of gold, spices, fish, honey, livestock, milk and dairy products, leather and leather products, chemical and construction inputs, food and pharmaceuticals and metals, however, underperformed. Contraband, decreases in productivity, lack of coordination, price decreases in international markets and under-invoicing practices are some of the reasons for the decrease in exports, according to a statement from the Ministry of Trade & Industry. Ethiopia’s export performance has been either stagnant or in decline for at least the past half decade, leading to repeated foreign exchange shortages.
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