The Ethiopian Ministry of Trade retracted the directive that required all coffee exports to be shipped in container sized bags.
The directive that established the new shipping system has been made null and void according to Kebede Tchaine Minister of Trade speaking to the Board of the Ethiopian Coffee Exporters Association.
The Ministry of Trade had remained resistant when coffee exporters opposed the directive that imposed the new shipping system.Associations representing major importers from Germany and Switzerland wrote letters of complaint against the new bulk container shipping to their Embassies in Ethiopia, the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A meeting of the Ethiopian Coffee Exporters Association on Wednesday concluded that the shipping system was untenable and requested appropriate revisions from the authorities.
The ECEA also discussed an appeal to the international coffee organization and a petition to the office of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
Reports last week had alleged that Ethiopian coffee exports for the week had not been made because international importers had changed over to exports from Columbia and Kenya.
It is to be remembered that the prices of unwashed Arabica coffee from Ethiopia were reported to have decreased by an estimated 6.9% on the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange last week.
The fall in prices occurred as the volume of washed and unwashed coffee traded on the exchange increased from 2295 metric ton to 2529 metric tons said an email statement from the exchange on Dec 9th.
Source: The Reporter
