Recently, the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority (ECTA) released the country’s coffee export data for May. According to the report, Ethiopia exported 43,481.02 metric tons of coffee in May, exceeding the target by 105%.Strong exports also led to increased revenue, generating $209.54 million, surpassing the planned income by 107%. Compared to the export figures from the previous two fiscal years, the data for May shows improvement.

In the first 11 months of the fiscal year (starting July 2023), Ethiopia’s cumulative coffee exports reached 252,466.98 metric tons, with foreign exchange earnings of $1.208 billion. In the previous fiscal year, Ethiopia exported approximately 240,000 metric tons of coffee, generating $1.3 billion in foreign exchange revenue. The ECTA stated that this fiscal year is expected to exceed the previous year’s $1.3 billion in revenue and potentially break records.

The main export destinations for Ethiopian coffee are Saudi Arabia, followed by South Korea and the United States. The other top ten destinations include Germany, Japan, Belgium, China, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, and Italy. Meanwhile, China’s imports of Ethiopian coffee have been continuously growing, with a total of 154,000

However, some industry insiders are not optimistic, mainly because Ethiopia is currently still in a civil war. As early as August 2023, the Fano forces in the Amhara region clashed with the federal government, and the conflict has not been resolved and continues to this day.

However, Ethiopia is a landlocked country, and relies on the port of Djibouti in a neighboring country for both exports and imports. The transportation routes for Ethiopia’s exports and imports are located at the edge of military operation zones, with the journey to the ports being a high-risk area that could be affected. In addition, due to the war, some areas will block the routes. This will severely impact the country’s transportation industry, and the reduction in imports and exports will greatly affect its economy. Even upon reaching the ports, shipping is also affected by the ongoing Red Sea crisis, limiting the availability of ships for coffee exports.