Coffee exports from Ethiopia rose by 38 percent in the fiscal year to 7 July 2011 as shipments of the beans jumped, the Ministry of Trade said.

In a statement released yesterday the ministry said that the total amount of coffee exported over the period reached 2.8 billion dollars.

Coffee was Ethiopia's biggest source of revenue raising 841.7 million dollars from 196,118 tonnes of beans shipped.

Last year, the country exported 172,210 tons for $528.2 million, the ministry said. The increase was driven by a 40 percent rise in global coffee prices in the period, Helaway Tadesse, senior vice president at Zemen Bank, said in an e-mailed response to questions today.

The latest report by the United States Department of Agriculture puts Ethiopia as the world's 6th largest coffee producer for the 2010/2011 crop year.

According to the report, Ethiopia has produced about 4,400 bags of coffee (264,000 kg).

The top five coffee producing countries in the list are Brazil (54,500 bags), Vietnam (18,725 bags), Colombia (9,500 bags), Indonesia (9,325 bags) and India (5,100 bags). 

Ethiopia is followed by Honduras (4,000 bags), Peru (4,000 bags), Guatemala (3,910 bags) and Mexico (3,700bags).

Late in July the government of Ethiopia declared that the country had earned 841.6 million dollars from the export of about 200,000 tonnes of coffee in 2010/2011 fiscal year.

Source: Bloomberg