Ethiopia's Coffee and Tea Authority said in August 2019 it was developing a national umbrella brand, Ethiopian Coffee, to strengthen the global image of regional coffees such as Yirgacheffe, Harrar and Sidamo.
Coffee beans in Addis Ababa, December 2017 (Ninaras / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0) [file photo]
Director-General Adugna Debella said a strong national brand would help Ethiopia negotiate coffee prices on the international market, charge a premium and launch new products, APA and 2merkato reported. More than 150 stakeholders attended a forum on the plan.
Tadesse Worku, director-general for intellectual property asset development, said the brand would address limited awareness among global consumers of Ethiopia's place in coffee and help build customer loyalty and recognition.
Adugna told Xinhua the initiative was part of a plan to raise annual production from close to 600,000 tonnes to as much as 1.8 million tonnes within five years, driven partly by growing demand among young consumers in China. Alfoz Plc, a specialty coffee exporter, said the Middle East remained its main market but that it was seeking more sales in China.
Ethiopia exported $245 million of goods to China in the 2017/18 fiscal year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Xinhua reported.
Sources: Xinhua, 2merkato, APA / Journal du Cameroun, via Wayback Machine