By Jason McLure | Bloomberg
Japanese trading houses are in talks with Ethiopian coffee exporters to resume purchases of beans from the Horn of Africa country, a year after imports were slashed when several contaminated shipments were discovered.
“Some Japanese businesses are seriously negotiating with Ethiopian businesses for the resumption of imports to Japan,” Kinichi Komano, Japan’s ambassador to Ethiopia, said in an interview today at his office in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
Japan curbed imports of Ethiopian coffee last year after shipments were seized between April and June by Japanese customs officials and found to contain “abnormally high” pesticide residues in the beans. Japanese imports of Ethiopian coffee plunged to 8,000 metric tons in 2008, from 29,000 tons a year earlier.
Ethiopia is Africa’s biggest coffee producer. Japan had previously purchased about 20 percent of the country’s exports, making it Ethiopia’s third-largest market after Germany and Saudi Arabia, according to the Trade Ministry.
Mocha beans from Ethiopia are highly regarded in Japan for their distinctive flavor and last year’s ban forced coffee shop owners to seek new blends.