Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority (ECTA) has built two additional coffee inspection and certification centers in a bid to facilitate a direct export of the commodity to the international market.
The first center began providing service in Jimma city of Oromia region today while the second one built in Sidama region’s capital Hawassa is scheduled to be open next week.
The new facilities will increase ECTA’s capacity of providing export coffee inspection and certification services which were previously given only in Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa centers.
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The facilities would shorten the export supply chain, and reduce transportation costs, apart from facilitating quality and standard assessment.
Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority Deputy General Director Shafi Umer said the centers would benefit all actors in the coffee production chain, ranging from farmers and suppliers to exporters.
The coffee sector supports the livelihoods of more than a quarter of the population in Ethiopia which boasts some of the finest coffees in the world.
The newly built centers will allow Ethiopian coffee to be exported directly from growing regions to the international market, the Deputy director added.
Improving the process of quality and management practices are among the main pillars of ECTA’s 15-year Coffee Development Strategy, which, officials said, would be key in maximizing the nation’s production capacity
The commodity, despite facing global price fluctuations, has been able to generate 787 million US Dollars from an eight-month export of the current 2022/23 fiscal year.
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The figure is $38 million higher than similar months from last year. The main destinations were Saudi Arabia, Germany, the U.S., Belgium, South Korea, UAE, Japan, Italy, and Australia.
