Coffee industry in Ethiopia: 2014 will be very challenging for Ethiopian coffee exporters

Ethiopian coffee industry experienced a good growth during the past three years. However, “for 2014, it is going to be a very challenging year because the international market price has dropped dramatically and our local market situation is still very difficult,” notes Michael Mamo, managing director of Addis Exporter.

“The local market price is often higher than the international market and for farmers, if they don’t make money, they aren’t going to produce coffee. With their costs of production and what they can sell it for, they are actually going to lose money so I think it’s going to be a very challenging year,” he adds.

The environment plays a key role in this regard.