Ethiopian Coffee export earns over 574 mln br

Addis Ababa, Saturday, 25 June 2011 – Ethiopian Grain Trade Enterprise (EGTE) said the country has gained over 574 million birr from coffee export in the past 11 months. Berhane Hailu, general manager of EGTE, told WIC that coffee export has been registering a steady growth due to the government’s persistent support to the sector.The ever expanding export destination of Ethiopian coffee is now reaching new markets in China, Korea and Japan.“We are doing massive promotional activities in these countries,” Berhane told WIC.
 The 11 months performance of the sector saw the country generating close to 574.5 million birr from export of over 111,000 quintals of washed and unwashed coffee. Last year the enterprise exported 85,671 quintals of coffee.“This year’s performance surpasses our projection by 15 percent,” Berhane said.The enterprise, which started coffee export only last year, has planned to increase the unprocessed coffee export to 200,000 quintals per annum in the coming five years. “We are also looking into ways of adding value to our export with a view to increasing our earnings,” Behailu told WIC. (waltainfo.com)