Ethiopia halts coffee exports

#1: Post by **EricL** » March 26th, 2009, 7:56 pm

Bloomberg reports:

Ethiopia, Africa's largest coffee producer, closed the warehouses of the country's six largest exporters of the beans and suspended their licenses after accusing the brokers of hoarding the crop, the government said.

"They have five days to appeal their case," Ermias Legesse, the state minister of government communication affairs, said by phone from the capital, Addis Ababa, today.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi last week accused exporters of stockpiling coffee while they waited for international prices to rise, a practice he called "an illegal way of working." Meles said the government would seize the coffee if it wasn't sold immediately.

The exporters say they haven't been hoarding. The government had forced all exports to go through a commodity exchange, which means buyers can't deal directly with growers.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... fer=africa

#2: Post by **GC7** » March 26th, 2009, 8:06 pm

If I can't get my favorite Ethiopian coffees I will be VERY sad.

Is it time to buy (hoard) this year's crop and vacuum seal and save the greens?

#3: Post by **TUS172** » March 27th, 2009, 8:04 pm

Ethiopian coffees are a regular buy for me every 6 months... I had just bought some from Sweet Marias about 2 months ago... I hope things are resolved.

#4: Post by **snaab** » March 27th, 2009, 9:48 pm

yikes - scary prospect. but i seem to remember something similar happening several times over the last decade or so and while the drought was no fun, the beans did begin to flow after a short time....