ASSESSMENT OF OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES OF COFFEE EXPORT: THE CASE OF ETHIOPIAN TRADING BUSINESS CORPORATION

Abstract

The study was conducted to assess the challenges and opportunities of coffee exporting in the case of Ethiopian Trading Business Corporation. To achieve the research objectives descriptive research design was applied. Target populations for this study were staffs in Grain and Coffee Trading Business Unit. The sample size drawn was 100. Since the target population was small in number, the data collection cost for these respondents was very low, and make more reliable on the data; and hence the researcher chose census method for data collection. Pertinent data for the study were gathered through questionnaire survey, key informant interview (KII) and document review. Lastly, thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data collected through KIIs and document review; whereas, quantitative data analysis was frequenc, percentage and median. The research findings based on empirical data shows that except in the year 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 the sale value in terms of USD earned from sale of coffee decreases from 2015/2016-2019/2020 years. In contrast to 2017/2018 the sale value in terms of USD earned from sale of coffee in 2015/2016, 2016/2017, 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 decrease. It is obvious washed coffee worth more in contrast to unwashed coffee. So comparing with other years in 2017/2018 washed coffee holds more share. The net surplus of the corporation decreased from year to year. The highest net profit was recorded in the year 2017/2018 and the lowest profit was recorded in 2019/2020 year. The total net profit the corporation earned from coffee export for the last five years was total 11,924,419 USD. The research findings based on empirical data shows that export marketing practice of coffee has shown a decreasing trend in terms of net surplus and the corporation is not on good condition in getting profit from the coffee export activity. The maian challenges facing facng the coffee export performance of the corporation are lack of knowledge to foreign marketing, coffee export experience (trends) and the absence of appropriate technology, inappropriate pricing policies with regard to the coffee market, long and sophisticated procedural requirements of export processing and limited government assistance to overcome coffee export barriers. Despite these challenges, several opportunities available for coffee export sector including huge natural and human resources as the opportunity available for the coffee sector, enabling policy environment supporting coffee research and development and the rising demand for ix Ethiopian organic coffee. Finally, the following recommendations are provided: In limited resource setting it is better to put effort on challenges mentioned in the conclusion part. Moreover, the corporation needs to go beyond seeking opportunities. The corporation needs to snatch out opportunities to share income from the industry whose massive proportion was shared by international roasters and brand owners located in consuming countries.