APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) Ethiopia has secured more than $1.1 billion in revenue from coffee export in the past 11 months of the current Ethiopian year which will end on July 7, 2023.
“About $1.15 billion has been secured from 110,000 tons of coffee export during the 11 months period,” Adugna Debela, General Director of Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority said Wednesday in a briefing.
Last year, the east African nation earned a record $1.4 billion by exporting 300,000 metric tons of coffee to the global market.
He said despite slight drop in revenue, the country has enjoyed still better income from the sector due to the fact that Arabica coffee enjoyed well above $2 per pound in the global market in the stated period.
This year, however, Ethiopia’s attempts to make yet another record earnings off the commodity was hampered by various challenges including a drop in demand from buying nations facing economic problems, driving the price down by 30 percent.
Although the situation caused export volume to drop, Adugna said it has also made the country leverage its specialty coffee to withstand the price fluctuation.
“We are offering coffee that can withstand the price volatility of global coffee,” Adugna said. “This fiscal year the price of the global coffee market has decreased but the price of Ethiopian coffee has increased due to the increase in quality.”
This strategy will remain to be key in devising the export plan for the next fiscal year, the director-general said, along with expanding to export destinations to new markets.
The major destinations for the commodity often are Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, and the US despite the sector seeing new countries like China ranking among the top 10 buyers for Ethiopian coffee.
Ethiopia – Africa’s largest exporter of coffee Arabica – relies on earnings from the crop as a major source of foreign exchange. The country also consumes half of what it produces.
MG/as/APA
 |
ReplyForward
|