Who’s getting coffee from Ethiopia right now?
By Melissa Allison
The Ethiopia Commodity Exchange wants people to know that the country is still exporting coffee. When I declined to correct this blog post from last week, because it accurately says that the country’s six largest exporters — not all of its exporters — have been shut down, here’s the e-mail I got in return:
Eleni Gabre-Madhin, CEO, Ethiopian Commodity Exchange
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Dear Melissa,
I find it difficult to believe that a title that starts “Ethiopia halts coffee exports..” can be in any way conceived as factually acceptable since it is blatantly false. Ethiopia has continued to export coffee every day since the legal actions taken by the regulators. There are more than 120 registered coffee exporters and this is an action concerning 6 companies. I also find it incredible that [another reporter] finds this to be a correct title since he knows firsthand that a statement that Ethiopia has halted coffee exports is patently untrue and extremely damaging to our industry. Unfortunately, neither you nor [the other reporter] are holding yourselves to the standards of truth that we hold you to as what should be responsible members of internationally recognized media. Please be assured that unless appropriate retractions and corrections are made, we will hold you accountable and pursue this matter in a more formal manner.
Best regards,
Eleni Gabre-Madhin
CEO
Ethiopia Commodity Exchange
The other reporter is from another news organization and for some reason was copied on the original request for a correction from me. He responded that he didn’t think my post needed a correction, saying “If a newspaper writes a headline: ‘Police Arrest Bank Robbers,’ it’s understood that the police may not necessarily have arrested all bank robbers, everywhere.”
The New York Times corrected a post I had linked to that incorrectly said no coffee is leaving Ethiopia.
Ethiopian agribusiness expert Bruck Fikru, who appears to work for Fintrac, correctly points out that I should do more research.
For example, Fikru wrote, I was wrong in saying that “U.S. importers can’t buy directly from the growers they prefer.”
Yet I’ve heard from Seattle roasters who say they got beans out of Ethiopia just in the nick of time.
So who’s getting coffee from Ethiopia these days, and how’s it going?