ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – Participants of the 15th African Fine Coffee Conference and Exhibition said that low quality of coffee is becoming a challenge among coffee producers and exporters.
General Manager with Mullege Private Limited Company, Mehabub Mustefa said that low standard quality of coffee is becoming a challenge not to assure healthy market competition at national level.
He added that despite the challenges, the company has received a certificate recognition for being a 1st class coffee exporter for exporting 8,310 tons of coffee to the international markets and earning 39 million USD in the previous fiscal year alone.
Similarly, low quality of coffee and lack of enough stores hindered the sector not to outshine as per the potential of the company, General Managere of Aster Bunna, Aster Mengesha said.
She noted that value adding on coffee products is a plus to earn a maximum amount of money and bring in foreign currency from the international markets as well.
Ahmed Legesse, General Manager of Lgesse Sherifa Coffee exporters, on his part said that volatility of the coffee industry in local and international markets is one of the challenges they are facing currently.
The participants called up on the government to play its pivotal role in boosting the coffee industry by exerting more effort to realize a healthy competitive coffee market.
According to the information from the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority, quality checkups and exporting standard coffee to international markets will be undertaken in the presence of traders, producers, professionals and other stake holders to assure transparency and competitive free market in the sector in the near future.
It was noted that around 20 million people directly or indirectly have linked their livelihood with coffee in Ethiopia. Besides, the coffee industry is a back bone of the Ethiopian economy it generates about 20 percent of the country’s total export earnings.
Ethiopia is the largest coffee producer in Africa and is the fifth largest coffee producer in the world next to Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, and Indonesia contributing about 7 to 10 percent of the world coffee production. The country has bagged 780 million USD by exporting 183 tons of coffee to the international markets during the previous fiscal year.
