Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi’s venture is to boost Ethiopia’s coffee export capacity, the manager of his enterprises said.

Horizon Plantations and Ethio Agri-CEFT plans to more than double its coffee production and expand tea output.

Horizon Plantations is one of the subsidiaries of MIDROC companies, majority owned by Saudi Arabian investor Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi. Forbes magazine estimated his net to be USD 10.8 billion.

"In the coming five years, we have a plan to raise our coffee produce to 25,000 tons," Jemal Ahmed, managing director of the firms, said in an interview.

"One hundred percent of our coffee could be exported once we attained the quality we need," he said, adding the group planned to set up an instant coffee processing plant soon.

The firm, which trades its premium coffee through the Neumann Kaffee Gruppe and counts Starbucks, Munich-based Dallmayr, Germany's second largest roaster Tchibo, and Seattle-based Caffe Vita among its buyers.

From its 25,000 hectare plantations in southern Ethiopia, the firm produces 10,000 tons of coffee, of which 70 percent is exported.

Total coffee production in Ethiopia amounted to 450,000 tons in the 2013/2014 period, owing to official figures.

The firm exported 190,000 tons in 2013/14, securing USD 841 million, down from the record high of 193,000 tons the year before.

Ethio Agri-CEFT produces a total of 5,700 tons of tea leaves yearly from the 1,249-hectare Wush Wush plantation and the 860-hectare Gumaro, and expects production to rise to 7,000 tons in the next few years.

The firm aims to export 1,300 tons by the end of 2014-2015. Unilever’s Lipton is one of its buyers.

Source: Reuters