Ethiopia: Int'l Price Cut, Illicit Trade Cripple Coffee Exports

This year's collapsing global coffee prices, which are nearly a third of prices in 2011 and the lowest in 13 years, have left Ethiopia's 5.3 million coffee farmers in the lurch. Apart from the price, local factors like political instability in some areas resulted in a failure to collect the beans on time, as well as the blocking of transport roots, according to the Ethiopian Coffee, Tea Development & Marketing Authority, writes KALEAB GIRMA, FORTUNE STAFF WRITER.

Mathewos Lankemu, a farmer in his early 40s, was born and raised in Nekiya Kebele, Sidama Zone, one of the major coffee producing regions in the country.

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