Ethiopian exporters shipped 1.4 billion dollars worth of coffee during the just-ended fiscal year. It is an achievement that helped authorities surpass the target for the reporting period by 400 million dollars.
Number 1 export item of Ethiopia, coffee brought twice export proceeds made from khat. Gold and khat are the second and the third export item of Ethiopia.
The surge in export of coffee is attributed to an increasing shift of traded to vertical integration that enabled them buy the commodity directly from farmers, instead of purchasing through intermediaries with a seat at the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX).