BY Meron Tekleberhan (EBN)
The prices of unwashed Arabica coffee from Ethiopia are reported to have decreased by an estimated 6.9% on the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange last week.
The fall in prices occurred as the volume of washed and unwashed coffee traded on the exchange increased from 2295 metric ton to 2529 metric tons said an email statement from the exchange on Dec 9th.
2010-11 Reports from the United States Department of Agriculture had placed Ethiopia as the 6th largest coffee producer for the last crop year. With increasing crop the Ethiopian export of coffee had also increased.
Experts say that the increase in the quantity of coffee exported from Ethiopia was due to the introduction in 2008 of a commodity exchange market, which promoted transparent trading, and rising global commodity prices.
Coffee exports from Ethiopia rose by 38 percent in the fiscal year to 7 July 2011 as shipments of the beans jumped, the Ministry of Trade said. The ministry added that the total amount of coffee exported over the period reached 2.8 billion dollars.
Coffee was Ethiopia’s biggest source of revenue raising 841.7 million dollars from 196,118 tonnes of beans shipped. Last year, the country exported 172,210 tons for $528.2 million, the ministry said. The increase was driven by a 40 percent rise in global coffee prices in the period according to Helaway Tadesse, acting president at Zemen Bank.