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Diversification into nontraditional export products and markets, coupled with declining state control over exports, has begun generating strong and sustained demand for Ethiopian goods abroad. Figures from the Ministry of Trade and Industry show exports increasing by 36 percent a year since 1993, and the trend is forecast to continue as Ethiopia finds new markets and niches for its products and reduces government involvement in the sector. The coming years will see the private sector start to dominate, with the government's role ultimately confined to promoting export activities and sponsoring trade missions to identify new markets.
Exports of coffee, which account for two thirds of foreign exchange income annually, are a prime example of this trend. Between 1994 and 1997, exports by the state-run Ethiopian Coffee Export Enterprise (ECEE) shrank from 58 percent of the total to 36 percent, and private concerns are forecast to continue biting into the share of the ECEE.
Over the two years from 1995 to 1997, coffee exports rose 16 percent to almost 118,000 tonnes; early indications show a 12 percent increase for 1998 alone. Vice Minister of Trade and Industry Brook Debebe attributes the surge largely to Ethiopia's move into new markets such as the Middle East, the U.S., Europe, and Japan as...