Ethiopia has generated a record $1.868 billion from coffee exports over the past 10 months, according to the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority (ECTA). This marks an 87% increase in revenue and a 70% rise in export volume compared to the same period last fiscal year. Director-General Adugna Debela announced that 354,302 tonnes of coffee were exported, with Germany, Saudi Arabia, and the United States leading as top buyers. Debela praised the achievement as the result of a coordinated national strategy and expressed optimism for continued growth in the remaining months of the fiscal year.
Coffee remains the backbone of Ethiopia’s agriculture-led economy, accounting for its largest share of export earnings. The country is the birthplace of Arabica coffee, the world’s most popular coffee species, prized for its smooth, fruity, and aromatic profile. Ethiopia’s coffee sector is dominated by smallholder farmers, who cultivate high-quality beans using traditional shade-grown methods in the country’s highland regions. These heirloom varieties, combined with Ethiopia’s unique microclimates, are credited with producing some of the most distinctive coffees in the world.
The recent decoding of the Arabica genome, which confirmed its origins in Ethiopia’s southwestern highlands, has further highlighted the country’s central role in the global coffee industry. Coffee is not only one of the world’s most consumed beverages—estimated at over 2.25 billion cups daily—but also one of the most traded agricultural commodities worldwide.
