Poor Farmer

For Part II, click HERE For Part II, click HERE In the past few weeks, too many readers asked me to share my views on the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) and wanted to know what I think about its effects on the Ethiopian coffee sector in general, and the Specialty coffee industry in particular. I was also asked similar questions by producers of the PBS Wide Angle program that released this documentary program featuring Eleni Gebre-Medhin, founder of the ECX. While I continue to respond to as many of your emails as I can, I also thought it might be useful to post my comments here on the blog for everyone else to see. So, in the coming couple of days, I will post my views on the most frequently asked questions: What's your view on the ECX in general; What do you think are the effect of trading through the ECX on specialty coffee exporters and buyers; Is ECX good for coffee growers? Today, I share my views on the ECX in general as an introduction and to clarify my stance before...

Promised to return rest of the money to the exporters By Muluken Yewondwossen Capital July 20, 2009 The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has paid off the loans taken out by six banned coffee exporters. The re-payment of loans comes after the ministry exported beans seized off the major exporters, who were alleged to have been hoarding the commodity, through the Ethiopian Grain Trade Enterprise and other private exporters. Three weeks ago, MoARD called the exporters and suppliers to confirm their bank account numbers for the transfer of the money, after it decided to clear bank loans that were taken to buy about 18, 000 tons of the subsequently confiscated beans from the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) and other local markets. In March this year, after the Government made the hoarding accusation, it seized and sold the coffee at the exchange market through selected intermediary members. The state-owned member of ECX, the Ethiopian Grain Trade Enterprise began to particip...