Ethiopian exports have dropped by 7% in the first quarter of the fiscal year according to the Ministry Trade. The total revenue earned from exports in the first quarter of the financial year was just 699.1 million US dollars.
The revenue from exports decreased due to lower demand for coffee and oil seeds on the international market according to the ministry.
Coffee exports to the international market raised a revenue of 199.3 million US dollars in the first quarter which ended in Oct. 10. The revenue earned from coffee was lower than the 201.9 million US dollars earned by the nation over the same period a year earlier said the MoT.
The second most valuable export was gold which raised 132. Million US dollars and qhat with revenues of 69.5 billion US dollars was in the third place.It is to be remembered that the revenue earned from gold exports in the first quarter of the Ethiopian fiscal year was lower than anticipated according to a report from the Ministry of Mines. Gold exports were affected by lower than projected production by traditional miners and MIDROC holding on to 90% of its production over the period in anticipation of better prices.
The Ministry of Mines had anticipated 61 million US dollars in revenue from 1361.3 kilograms of gold to be produced by the Legedembi mine operated by MIDROC. The mine has an estimated annual production of 4500 kilograms of gold and 1195 kilograms were produced in the first quarter but the company sold just 10.8% of this production due to unfavorable pricing on the market it was said.
Source: Bloomberg
