3. Virtual Coffee Trade Promotion in Brussels

Trade Virtual Coffee Trade Promotion in Brussels

Ethiopia is the largest Coffee Arabica exporter in Africa and the fifth largest producer in the world. The country provides various coffee Arabica beans, each with their own characteristic, name, and taste.

Photo credit: - solerebels.com

The Embassy of Ethiopia in Brussels hosted a virtual event titled “Promoting Ethiopian Coffee in Belgian and Luxembourg Markets” on 26 November 2020. The aim of this event was to attract more Belgian and Luxembourg companies in the coffee sector to do business with Ethiopia. The event also highlighted the importance of coffee as part of Ethiopian culture. The trade promotion event was officially opened by State Minister, H.E Tsion Teklu and moderated by Hirut Zemene, Ambassador of Ethiopia to Belgium, Luxembourg, and the EU institutions. The Ambassador of Belgium to Ethiopia, Ambassador Francos Demont, Ethiopian high-level officials from the coffee sector, Ethiopian coffee exporters, and CEOs of coffee trading companies from Belgium & Luxembourg were also in attendance.

In her opening remarks, State Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia for Economic Diplomacy, H.E Tsion Teklu, stated that Belgium is one of Ethiopia’s major trading partners in the world, and the fifth destination of Ethiopian coffee exports, next to Germany, Saudi Arabia, USA, and Japan. Emphasizing the importance of such coffee trade promotion events, H.E Tsion Teklu thanked the participants for attending the event and for sharing their views and experiences in this regard. The State Minister also invited Belgian and Luxembourg companies to study possibilities beyond importing Ethiopian coffee and start investing in coffee production and processing in Ethiopia.

The occasion encompassed presentations about coffee business from Dr. Adugna Debela, Director General of Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority, followed by representatives from Ethiopian Coffee Exporters’ Association, Women in Coffee Association, and three Ethiopian exporters namely Terara Coffee, Mullege Coffee, and Tracon Trading Plc. Furthermore, Belgian coffee importer companies Efico and Ahold Delhaize also shared their experiences in importing, processing, and re-exporting Ethiopian coffee to Europe. This was followed by a discussion on potentials and challenges of Ethiopian coffee trade such as quality, logistics, issues related to bank and customs, current coffee demand under COVID situation, and pricing issues.

Dr. Adugna talked on the effort and the commitment of Ethiopia’s Coffee and Tea Authority in maintaining sustainability of providing high quality certified coffee to the market. The authority sets minimum price every week based on the volume of coffee sold during the week. To solve challenges related to transport and late delivery issues, there is an endeavor to shift the mode of transport from truck to train. This will reduce the time it takes to transport the product from Addis Ababa to Djibouti port from 6 days to 20 hours (less than a day). Exporters have also been trained on how to use the new railway to transport their coffee to the Djibouti port. On the other hand, to tackle the challenges related to bank and customs issues, a team comprises of the National Bank, Customs Commission, Coffee and Tea Authority, and Ministry of Trade is established, and follows up the export process to solve the problems.

Partial view of the participants. (Photo credit:- The Embassy of Ethiopia in Belgium) Ethiopia is the largest Coffee Arabica exporter in Africa and the fifth largest producer in the world. The country provides various coffee Arabica beans, each with their own characteristic, name, and taste. These include Harar, Sidamo, Yirgacheffe, and Limu beans, which are all trademarked varieties of the Arabica bean, with the rights owned and protected by Ethiopia.

Currently, it is believed that around 12 million Ethiopians live of the coffee farm, with coffee accounting for the lion’s share of Ethiopia’s exports. The country has taken various steps to make sure coffee farmers get the right price to their produce by securing trademarks for some coffee varieties. Harar, Yirgachefe, Sidamo and Limmu are now carried in various international coffee shops and markets with due recognition of the original brand owners.

On the occasion, H.E Ambassador Hirut Zemene highlighted the importance of coffee to Ethiopia’s economy and reiterated what other speakers mentioned about the importance of value addition when exporting the product. She also noted coffee is more than an export item for Ethiopians by referring to the renowned coffee ceremony passed from generations to generations which plays a vital role in strengthening the social fabric.

Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to Ethiopia, H.E. Francois Dumont, on his part congratulated the Ethiopian Embassy for organizing this successful event and highlighted the importance of economic diplomacy for strengthening the longstanding relations between the two countries. He further appreciated the roles of the port of Antwerp and Belgian coffee trading companies such as Effico in strengthening the coffee trade between Ethiopia and Belgium. He remarked Belgium with its renown chocolates and Ethiopia with its high-quality world-class coffee have quite matching and much loved products around the world.

Source:- Ethiopian Tea and coffee Authority Photo credit: The Embassy of Ethiopia in Brussels