2merkato

The Yirgachefe Coffee Farmers Cooperatives Union said it was planning to earn over 7 million dollars from the export of coffee during the current fiscal year.

The union hopes to earn the 7 million dollars by exporting more than 1,100 tonnes of coffee to the United States, Australia, Japan, South Korea and Europe, Takele Mamo, general manager of the union, said yesterday.

Ethiopia earned 841.6 million dollars from the export of about 200,000 tonnes of coffee in 2010/2011 fiscal year. The country is planning to raise its coffee production to 700,000 tonnes from 300,000 tonnes over the coming four years.

Experts said that the increase in the quantity of coffee exported from Ethiopia was due to the introduction in 2008 of a commodity exchange market, which promoted transparent trading, and rising global commodity prices.

Ethiopia has earned over 104 million dollars from the export of shoes, leather and leather products during the fiscal year to 7 July 2011, the Leather Industry Development Institute said.

The income exceeds that of the previous fiscal year by 50 million dollars. The items were exported to the United States Europe Asia and African countries, Birhanu Sirjabo, communication director of the institute, said.

Ethiopia earned 62.2 million dollars from the export of textile in the fiscal year to 7 July 2011 achieving 73.1 percent of its projection. The amount is a 178 percent increase from the previous fiscal year’s earning which was 23.2 million dollars.

In June 2011 alone the country earned 6.9 million dollars. The money earned in the same period last year was 3.3 million dollars.