Coffee prices bulge on ECX

The price of coffee at the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) has spiked by almost a thousand birr per feresula (17 kilograms) in the first half of this budget year when compared with the same period from last year.
Owing to the bad weather which has backpedaled Brazilian coffee as well as logistical constraints, the global coffee prices have sharply increased starting from the past budget year. On the other hand, the global circumstance has also benefited Ethiopia in terms of generating more hard currency from coffee export in the period starting from last year.
An attribute to this success is also the efforts of the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority and regional bureaus which encompass the coffee production and trading which has led to increment of trading, both in volume and value.
Similar to last budget year’s performance which saw the country securing over USD 907 million, the current budget is surpassing the expectation with marvelous trends.
In likewise manner to the price increment in the international market, the price of the bean in the local market has also registered significant increment including on the modern trading floor, ECX.
As per Capital’s evaluation of coffee price trends which are drawn from the past one year’s market data of ECX, the country’s top hard currency earner has surged in price, on average by over one thousand birr.
The ECX market data that Capital evaluated indicated that few weeks ago the average price of export coffee, which is Arabica, at ECX was about 3, 400 birr to the maximum and close to 2,000 birr to the minimum per feresula (17 KG) based on their origin and quality.
Most of the price has over a thousand birr difference compared with the same period of last year.
It is to be recalled that Capital through inside sources, reported that the volume of export coffee available through the trading platform has shown reduction in the current budget year. Sources state that the reduction of coffee on ECX has narrowed in the past few months as a result of the drifting away of Oromia region from the platform to the recently introduced alternative vertical integration market scheme. The volume of coffee at ECX naturally plunged because Oromia region is one of the major sources of the coffee bean.
However, most of the coffee coming from other regions like SNNP, Sidama, South West, Gambela and Benshangul Gumuz still mainly trade through the electronic trading floor which is widely recognized for its trust in terms of payment.
Experts in the sector said that the price of coffee at the initial market of the vertical integration or at ECX has climbed on average more than a half in the first half of the budget year compared with the same period of last year.