ASSESSMENT OF PRACTICES AND CHALLENGES OF COFFEE EXPORT MARKETING: IN THE CASE OF ETHIOPIAN COFFEE & TEA AUTHORITY

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to assess Practices and Challenges of Coffee Export Marketing in the case of Ethiopian Coffee & Tea Authority. The study is descriptive type of research in its nature and employed quantitative research methods. From top ten coffee export companies, by using purposive sampling techniques top three coffee export companies were selected as target population. Namely Kerchanshe Trading plc, Mullege plc and Horra Trading plc. The study uses both primary and secondary data sources. Primary sources of data were collected from respondents through questioner and the secondary data were collected from published & unpublished sources. To analyze the data gathered quantitative techniques were used. Descriptive statistics such as percentage, mean, and standard deviation were used the study. The finding in this study shows that the practices of coffee export are not limited to the seasonal market & the coffee is also not exported for yearly round consumption. The descriptive analysis shows that most of the respondents strongly agree that the price and quality of coffee have an impact on the export marketing. The research also shows that both price and quality are influential variable to affect the practices of coffee export marketing. In addition to exporting reliable and consistent quality coffee the government should offer price risk management services for producers to further reduce vulnerability due to fluctuation of international market prices. To improve the competitiveness of the country in its coffee export according to the target markets preferences, supporting participants in the domestic coffee production, improving the exporters capacity in market information usage, international sales capacity, and negotiation skills are crucial. Other factors like increasing productivity and reducing costs of marketing should also be considered.