By
Birhanu Fikade
December
17, 2011
The
Ministry of Trade (MoT) pulled back the latest coffee directive, which ordered
all coffee shipments from the country to be in loose container packaging
format, after its month long tenure in the sector. Following the enactment of
the directive through a letter written to the Ethiopian Coffee Exporters
Association (ECEA) by the minister of state, Yacob Yala, the coffee sector
appeared in a big shock and the export revenue was declared to be in a danger
zone. On the other hand, international coffee importers as well have voiced
their opposition to the authorities saying that the measure will be a business
suicide for the sector.
However,
the ministry appeared to be insistent about the loose container shipment
mechanism in the coffee export sector until late this week. Previous meeting
with the minister of state were dispersed without any change to the new rule
and some of the exporters continued business as usual, regardless of the
ministries warning. At the beginning of the week, reports of foreign coffee
buyer writings complaints through their embassies to the authorities were also
made public.
On the
other hand, the ECEA meeting on Wednesday concluded by saying that the
directive was completely impossible to work with and the authority should make
appropriate revisions. “Unless our petition for the revision of the directive
is not considered by MoT, we should proceed to next level,” was the decision of
the members, according to sources. Furthermore, options to appeal for the
international coffee organization or writing a petition letter to Prime
Minister Meles Zenawi were also on the table.
However,
before resorting to any of the option, Kebede Tchaine, minister of trade,
called the board members of the association on Thursday afternoon and said that
directive has been made null and void.