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Culture
Increasing Coffee Production The only exception to this was Ethiopia where people
Through most of the 1990s Ethiopia’s annual coffee started growing coffee because they actually liked the brew
production would average between 3 and 3.5 million 60-kg that emerged from the little beans. The consumption factor
bags and at least 1.7 million bags would be used for local aside, coffee remains Ethiopia’s top export product and
consumption in any given year, according to figures by the coffee exports continue to account for between 25 and 30
London-based International Coffee Organization. percent of Ethiopia’s foreign exchange revenues, accord-
At the beginning of the Millennium, production ing to central bank data. The socio-economic importance
slowly started to expand, in part because of market re- of coffee as a key source of employment also continues to
forms that started opening up for private investment and dominate overall development in Ethiopia.
in part because of official government policies–supported “Coffee production is vital to the Ethiopian economy
by foreign aid–that provided financial assistance toward with about 15 million people directly or indirectly deriving
the renovation of old farms. By the 2004-05 harvest, their livelihoods from it,” said USDA in the 2012 report.
Ethiopian production surpassed 5 million bags for the
first time and since then output has gradually expanded Continued Consumption Growth
to between 7 and 7.5 million bags, according to private Back in Addis Ababa, coffee culture is growing fast.
industry estimates. But for those optimistic souls hoping For a country that just five years ago was still rated one of
that all this additional supply will become available for the the world’s poorest, the visible improvement of real social
export market, disappointment is quick to emerge because development and economic progress is a welcome sign of
the local consumption has kept in pace with the growth in development starting to take hold in Ethiopia.
output. While the growth in global coffee consumption for
“The number one reason behind the surge in most of the last decade has been dominated by emerging
consumption is due to the growth in population, while in markets, increasingly, the strongest force driving the world’s
the rural area coffee has always been a source for social thirst for coffee has come from the very coffee producing
gathering. An Ethiopian housewife will always explain any countries themselves. This includes not only Ethiopia but also
additional revenue as ‘now I got my coffee money’ and this coffee nations such as Mexico, Indonesia, Brazil and Vietnam,
has always been the case, only that now the household which in the last 10 years have seen annual growth of between
income has increased,” said MIDROC’s Ahmed. 3 and 7 percent—and this trend is expected to continue.

Ethiopia’s per capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product) Analysts agree that for all the excitement about the
climbed to USD $498 by 2013, according to the World Bank. growth in export figures from Ethiopia in recent years, con-
While this may not sound impressive to many people, it is sumers in the U.S. and Europe are going to meet increased
in fact over four times more what it was in 2000 when per competition for that new production from the domestic
capita GDP was registered at only USD $122. The overall market in the birthplace of Arabica coffee itself. Coffee
GDP, meanwhile, grew to USD $47 billion in 2013 from demand is not only expected to continue to grow, but in
just USD $8.1 billion in 2000, while Ethiopia’s population many ways coffee really is the essence of Ethiopian culture
today is estimated at over 95 million people compared to and the soul of the people.
66 million people in 2000, according to World Bank figures. “There is no doubt that coffee consumption will
Low per capita coffee consumption in producing continue to expand in Ethiopia, because it’s the most im-
countries has been a source of debate in the market for portant commodity to Ethiopian consumer,” said Ahmed,
years. All the way up until the boom in coffee culture in adding: “To Ethiopians, drinking coffee means time to
earnest started to consolidate in the last five years, the key chat, to gossip, sometimes used in connection with either
question has been why countries known to produce top praying or mourning, and other times used at weddings as
quality beans would not have higher consumption in their part of the celebrations. Coffee, really, means everything
home markets. in Ethiopian culture.”
The history behind the evolution of coffee consump-
tion, however, was never eyed for the producing countries
themselves. Developing countries all started growing coffee Maja Wallengren has been writing about coffee for 20 years
because colonial powers wanted coffee for the export market; from over 40 coffee producing countries across South-East
hence the local population in producing countries across Asia, East and West Africa and across Latin America. She
the world was never encouraged to even try the product. can be reached at: mwallengren@hotmail.com.
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