Ethiopia coffee exports decline in 1998/99
By Tsegaye Tadesse; Reuters, July 27, 1999
ADDIS ABABA, July 27 (Reuters) -
Ethiopian coffee exports fell in the 1998/99 fiscal year to 122,000 tonnes from a record 136,000 the previous year, the country's coffee authority said on Tuesday.
Total revenue for the year ended July 7 fell sharply to $319.3 million from 452.6, Tsegaye Berhane, General Manager of Ethiopia's Coffee and Tea Development Authority told Reuters.
He said 103,000 tonnes of coffee had already been exported, while export contracts had been signed for the remaining 19,000 tonnes which would be shipped in the next few months.
Tsegaye said Ethiopia had hoped to boost export volumes to 137,000 tonnes in 1998/99, but bumper harvests in Brazil and other major producers had forced global coffee prices to slump.
``Brazilian coffee saturated the market and as a result Ethiopia's traditional coffee buyers like the U.S. opted to buy
from nearby Brazil at the expense of Ethiopia,'' he said.
Ethiopia's 14-month-old border war with its northern neighbour Eritrea did not have any impact on coffee production, Tsegaye said, because the country's coffee belt in the south and west is far from the war zone. Exports have been diverted from Eritrea's Red Sea ports to Djibouti, but were running smoothly.
Tsegaye said he hoped Ethiopia would be ready to export organic coffee next year, as the process of international certification has been completed.
``Our traditional buyers from all over the world have conducted a study tour of Ethiopia's coffee growing regions and have recognised that the country's coffee is naturally grown and organic,'' he said.
``But the absence of the international certification authority which determines that a country's coffee is naturally grown inhibited Ethiopia from earning the value it deserved for its quality commodity for a long time,'' he said.
Ethiopian coffee is divided into three categories by the coffee authority.
Forest coffee, which is grown the country's western regions where self-sown wild coffee trees grow, covers about 50 percent of the total annual production. Garden coffee, grown at low density around homes of small holder peasant farmers, accounts for around 45 perent and plantation coffee accounts for the remaining five percent.
Ethiopia is Africa's third biggest coffee producer after Ivory Coast and Uganda. Its annual production is estimated at between 200,000 and 250,000 tonnes.
Coffee is Ethiopia's major export commodity accounting for over 60 percent of annual foreign currency earnings.
At least 17 die in fierce battles in south Somalia
Reuters; July 27, 1999
MOGADISHU, July 27 (Reuters) -
At least 17 people were killed on Tuesday after fierce fighting broke out between rival militia in the southern Somali town of Qoryoley, witnesses said.
A new group calling itself the Digil Salvation Army (DSA) launched a dawn attack on the forces of leading Somali warlord Hussein Aideed which control the town, they said.
Residents contacted by short-wave radio said 17 bodies had been found in the streets after fighting subsided at midday. They said the bulk of the casualties were suffered by the DSA who were forced to retreat back to their villages.
Two women and a child were also wounded by crossfire.
Tuesday's fighting followed an earlier attack on the town on Sunday, in which five people died.
The DSA say their quarrel is with the high taxes imposed by Aideed's militiamen on residents of the town, which lies 120 km (75 miles) south of the capital Mogadishu.
The DSA is believed to be allied to Ethiopia, whose forces have invaded parts of southern Somalia in recent months to drive away militia loyal to Aideed.
Ethiopia accuses Aideed of supporting Ethiopian rebels and receiving backing from Eritrea, its enemy in a long border war.