Since the beginning of the ongoing Ethiopian 2023/24 fiscal year, which started on July 8, the nation has exported a total of 174,596 tonnes of the product.
The Ethiopian government has successfully entered new markets in recent years, in addition to the nations that traditionally import Ethiopian coffee, as Shafi Oumer, the ECTA deputy director-general, was quoted as saying by the state-run Ethiopian Press Agency.
China, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan, which previously bought Ethiopian coffee but were not among the top 10 importers, are now ranked 9th, 8th and 7th respectively. Meanwhile, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, the United States, and Germany have been Ethiopia's primary export markets for coffee throughout the years.
Furthermore, Ethiopia earned more than $1.33 billion last year and is projected to earn $1.75 billion this year.
Shafi Oumer attributed the success to government reforms: for example, Ethiopia recently allowed foreign companies to buy the commodity directly from farmers and processors, avoiding the middleman of local firms. In addition, work is underway to create associations of farmers that could directly supply coffee to foreign markets.
However, he also noted that the country has faced some difficulties this year: a global drop in coffee prices and instability in the Red Sea, which is used for shipping coffee. To solve the latter problem, various solutions have been attempted, including transporting coffee by land.
Anyway, it is quite possible that Ethiopia will be able to achieve its goals. This year, world coffee consumption is expected to grow by 2.2% to 177 million bags, with non-producing countries making the largest contribution to the total increase.