Ethiopian green coffee trade through the week
The Ethiopian Epiphany being celebrated on Wednesday marked an off-trading day at the exchange’s floor. Through the week ECX’s trading floor traded 1,559,556kg of green coffee which has seen an additional half a million kgs of green coffee. The trade of Naturals accounted for 1,501,208 kg with 468,143kg increments while Washed ones covered only 58,348 kg. The volume of natural Sidamo traded reached 90,627 kg. Average vertical contract prices for Washed Yirgacheffe recorded $6.82 /kg along with $1.1/kg red-cherry prices. The average vertical contract price for Washed Limmu G2 was around $5.17/kg.ECTA's price for Washed Yirgacheffe G2 increased to $2.83/Ib. , Washed Sidamo G2 at $2.74/lb., Washed Limmu G2 at $2.14/Ib. & Natural Sidamo G4 at $1.92/Ib., in which prices increased from 1 - 9 cents across the four coffee types.
Oromia region is a home for renowned coffees such as Limmu, Djimmah & lekempti. Green coffee particularly from west Oromia, coffee types being Djimma, Wellega & IIubabor are expected to give 41.2 % of 2021/22 crop. Sources reported that the Oromia region’s senior administration is favoring vertical integration schemes over trading through ECX. Capital News reported the volume of coffee entering the ECX has decreased during the current fiscal year's first chapter. ECX’s sources mentioned the relatively higher availability of green coffee from Sidama, Yirgacheffe, Tepi, Bench Maji, Tepi & Mizan versus green coffee supplies from Oromia’s regions. Some supported the decision in terms of increased benefits for farmers while others emphasized the importance of the exchange mentioning its exemplary execution regarding payments to farmers & suppliers. Dawit Tadesse (Ass. Prof) a management consultant emphasized on ECX’S exclusivity in trading agri-commodities has not been sufficient in concluding the platform’s ineffectiveness and suggests the government in making more changes to benefit farmers.
It is to be recalled that the FDRE Ministry of Trade & Regional Integration has been leading the initiative in sales & marketing of Ethiopian coffee beans through Alibaba. Following this, Wednesday marked the sales of 11k bags of Ethiopian coffee in just 5 seconds. Li Jiaqi, China's leading social media influencer with more than 40 million fans on Douyin(Tik Tok version), led the live-streaming event. China’s DG for Africa’s affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in his part tweeted China’s strong desire & commitment to increasing imports of African agri-commodities in the coming few years. It was exactly a year ago the initiative kicked off as the FDRE’s president Sahlework Zewde invited Chinese importers to appreciate the fine quality of Ethiopian coffee along with its promotion on the TMALL global.
