Ethiopia set to export processed coffee for African countries, as exploring new market destination for its growing value added coffee production.
A two- day workshop aimed at promoting domestic coffee consumption in Africa kicked off in Addis Ababa today.
During the workshop, Director-General of Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority, Adunga Debela, said the Ethiopia is improving its coffee export law for Africa countries.
Ethiopia is the largest coffee producer in Africa and the fifth largest producer in the world and accounts for 4.2 percent of the global coffee production.
He stated that Ethiopians are among the largest coffee consumers in Africa and the coffee consumption trend in Ethiopia is growing at a steady pace. More than half of the country’s coffee production is consumed domestically.
He pointed out that Ethiopia is expanding its market access to African countries through value addition on its coffee bean.
According to the Director-General, Ethiopia is still a major producing country of high-value coffee and the government is targeting African countries as alternative coffee export destinations as the price in global market fluctuates.
With increasing trend of coffee consumption in African, Ethiopia is putting forward to create value added competitive coffee export across the continent, he said.
Inter-African coffee organization Secretary-General, Frederick Kawuma told ENA that value addition on coffee and selling within the continent of Africa benefits all beyond facilitating intra Africa trade.
“We want to make sure that African coffee value chain becomes fully developed and sustains many people in the economy,” he said.
He noted that “particularly in Ethiopia we need to have policy that supports the initiative of continental free trade which has a common external tariff.’
Countries should also encourage value added products as the continent strives to develop continental free trade for the wellbeing of Africans at large, he said.
Coffee is considered the main export crop in Ethiopia, providing 31 percent of the country’s foreign exchange earnings.