ETHIOPIA – As a major coffee producer in Africa, Ethiopia, is seeking interventions to intensify coffee exports to China in a quest to supply the growing demand of the commodity in the East Asian nation.
This comes as Ethiopian based coffee roastaries and cafes in China record good performance and significant growth arising from the demand of the country’s high quality commodity.
Garden of Coffee, owned by an Ethiopian entrepreneur, Bethlehem Alemu, has remarkably secured its space globally and China as well says that it intends to capitalise on the rapidly growing demand.
In its expansion plan Bethlehem Alemu, has strategized in opening more than 100 café roasteries across China by 2022 and has launched a subscription service to enable deliveries.
Dream High Café, which also serves Ethiopian coffee in China, also has nested increase in sales from the booming business which the company says has been attributed to customers “welcoming” the taste of Ethiopian coffee.
Ethiopia is the world’s seventh largest producer of coffee and could well use the business opportunity in China.
The country consumes half of their total coffee production and dispatched the other half into its major markets in the European Union (EU), East Asia and North America.
According to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade, Ethiopia Exports to China was $88.69 million during 2016, and generated US$334 million from the export of coffee to the global market during the last five months of the year.
The government also unveiled plans to institute reforms to the country’s coffee marketing and trading systems in order to spur additional export sales.
According to the Ethiopian Ministry of Trade, during the previous Ethiopian 2017-2018 fiscal year that ended on July 8, Ethiopia had exported $245 million of goods to China.
The figures could as well increase this year with more engaging trade relations between the two states.
China remains the most populous country in the world and the population offers a base for product demand and business opportunity for product supply.
