Ethiopia's coffee earnings hit a record - and the figure is $2.65 billion, not $2.2 billion
Ethiopia earned $2.65 billion from coffee exports in the 2024/25 fiscal year, from 468,967 tonnes, according to the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority. That is well above both the year's target and the $1.4 billion earned the year before.
Key points
- 2024/25 earnings: $2.65 billion, a record, per the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority.
- Volume: 468,967 tonnes, over 170,000 tonnes more than the previous year.
- The year beat its own targets of 326,000 tonnes and $2 billion.
- The previous year earned $1.4 billion, so earnings rose by nearly 90 percent.
What happened
Coffee is Ethiopia's best-known export and a main source of foreign currency. A record year matters beyond farming: it affects the country's ability to pay for imports and support its currency.
The authority credits reforms including direct export rights for farmers and cooperatives, training, replacement of old trees with higher-yielding varieties, and better quality control. Those explanations come from officials and are reported here as their account, while the headline figures are the authority's published results.
Claim by claim
Why this label: Stated by the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority as the highest annual earnings in the country's coffee trade history. A widely shared $2.2 billion figure does not match the authority's published result.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: Authority figure, reported with the revenue result.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: Both the targets and the final figures are given in the same authority statement.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The comparison figure is given in the same reporting of the authority's results.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: These are the drivers listed in reporting of official statements. We found no independent study separating how much each one contributed, or how much was simply higher world prices.
On the ladder: the evidence so far sits low — early, single or social sources. We publish the claim as a claim, never as fact.
What we know / what we don't know yet
What we know
- The authority's published revenue, volume, targets and previous-year comparison all point the same way.
- The $2.65 billion figure is a record on the authority's own account.
What we don't know yet
- How much of the increase came from higher world coffee prices rather than from selling more coffee.
- How much of the extra earnings reached small farmers, as opposed to exporters and the state.
Why it matters
Coffee money is one of the few reliable streams of foreign currency into Ethiopia. A near-doubling in a year changes what the country can afford to import, and it shapes incomes for the millions of households who grow the crop.
Update history
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