ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Ethiopia’s commodity exchange plans to trade coffee through a new electronic system, starting next month, the exchange said on Monday.
“Coffee trading will be conducted in the afternoons, beginning October, so as to link it with the New York market,” Eleni Gebremedhin, Director of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) said.
To participate in the electronic trade, sellers will be required to produce warehouse receipts and buyers will have to show a pre-trade deposit in banks.
Ethiopia has won trademark rights for its specialty Sidamo, Harar and Yirgacheffe coffees and has signed agreement with 70 global companies to promote its coffee brands.
Ethiopia is Africa’s largest coffee producer and prides itself as the birth place of the beans. Last season, it exported 170,888 tonnes and earned $525.2 million.