Ethiopia’s export earnings for the financial year 2022/23 have reduced by 12%.
In the 2021/22 financial year, Ethiopia earned $4.1 billion in exports, but managed to raise $3.6 billion in the 2022/23 financial year, which has just ended.
Ethiopia also fell short of achieving its $5.2 billion export earnings target in the 2022/23 fiscal year.
Ethiopian economists say the 2021/22 record exports revenue was as a result of a significant increase in the global prices of Arabica and Gold coffee.
Coffee alone raised $1.4 billion for Ethiopia that financial year, representing 34.2% of total export earnings in 2021/22.
In the 2022/23 financial year, Ethiopia’s coffee exports dropped by 20%, significantly denting the country’s export earnings.
Agriculture is key export earner
Agriculture remains the key driver of the export trade in Ethiopia, earning 79% of the country’s export revenue in the 2022/23 financial year.
During that period, the country exported 240,000 tonnes of coffee, according to official records.
Beans alone raised $1.4 billion in the just concluded financial year, according to Ethiopia’s Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration. Revenue from the crop, however, fell short of the government’s target by $500 million.
The manufacturing industry raised $400 million for the Ethiopian government in export earnings.
The other key drivers of the export earnings in Ethiopia were minerals, particularly gold.
Ethiopian Minister of Industry Melaku Alebel said USA’s decision to terminate the country from the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) programme negatively affected industries in Ethiopia.
The government also blamed smuggling of goods through its borders with Sudan and South Sudan as one of the main causes of poor performance in external earnings.
