As the coffee market value soars, Ethiopia faces a record year in coffee export despite lower quantities.
Over the past three years export earnings from Ethiopia of coffee Arabica has shown an average annual growth of 27.5 percent reaching 909.4 million USD during the last budget year… ended July 7, 2021.
The export revenue of the country from coffee, which was $764.1 million in 2018/19 has increased to $855.9 million in 2019/20 registering 28.6% annual growth, according to the latest report of the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) released in March 2022.
According to New Business Ethiopia
The reason for this also lies in drought and black frost that affected Brazil in 2021, lowering the yield and export significantly. Furthermore, Columbia, the second biggest Arabica producer, struggles with heavy rainfall, affecting coffee production. Due to these factors, global coffee prices soared, earning Ethiopia an extra US $193.77m in six months.
Global coffee prices soared, earning Ethiopia an extra US $193.77m in six months.
Ethiopian coffee export is also on the rise due to the popularity of Yirgacheffe, Sidama and Guji. Coffee roasters across the globe are increasingly searching for coffee from these regions, making production and exportation worthwhile.
Surely, Ethiopia will earn over one billion USD in the next six months. (sic) If we had peace and stability, the nation would have earned 1.67 billion dollars exporting coffee.
Gizat Worku, General Manager at Ethiopian Coffee Exporters Association
An ongoing civil war was confined to areas outside of coffee growing regions, but the strife still influences the coffee trade. Additionally, Ethiopia suffered from a crippling inflation rate of 35 % in December 2021. As a result, the cost of some necessary commodities and materials for prosaic items such as nails for raised beds and fuel for trucks have doubled or tripled.
The price of Ethiopian coffee is now high due to the problems mentioned earlier. Nonetheless, it appears this does not affect the farmers, at least not in a bad way. Emily McIntyre, CEO of Portland-based coffee trading company Catalyst Trade is positive, “For once, smallholder producers are on the winning side of the economic equation, though history suggests this will not last long.” Let’s hope history will be wrong this time.
Photo by Geresu Kitessa, USAID on Pixnio
