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Detailed Explanation of Ethiopian Coffee Trading System: The Relationship Between Ethiopian Coffee Bean Prices and Quality

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Professional coffee knowledge exchange For more coffee bean information Please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account cafe_style) According to Ethiopian regulations, there are three coffee export systems: (1) The largest system of private processing plants exported through ECX bidding; (2) The cooperative system; (3) The single farm system. Among these three systems, cooperatives and single estates do not need to disclose

Ethiopian Coffee Export Systems and Traceability

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style).

According to Ethiopian regulations, there are three coffee export systems: (1) The largest system of private processing plants exported through ECX bidding; (2) The cooperative system; (3) The single farm system. Among these three systems, cooperatives and single estates can export directly without going through ECX bidding, offering complete and reliable traceability/product history.

However, when tracing back to the source, cooperatives ultimately collect cherries from small farmers for centralized processing, making them not 100% traceable. Single farms represent the only possibility for moving toward the next generation.

Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX)

The Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (hereinafter referred to as ECX) was founded in 2008 by Eleni Gabre-Madhin, former senior economist at the World Bank and director of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). The original purpose of ECX was to establish Ethiopia's and even Africa's first commodity exchange, introducing pricing mechanisms, warehousing and logistics, real-time communication, and other modern trading rules and technologies to change Ethiopia's agricultural market situation of high transaction risks and high transaction costs, building an effective, reliable, and transparent commodity market.

ECX was widely praised at its inception and was considered to revolutionize Ethiopian agriculture, reducing famine and poverty. In the past, Ethiopian farmers often faced challenges due to overwhelming media coverage. ECX claimed that through rural cooperatives, it provided market access to over 2.4 million small farmers.

ECX's coffee trading operation model works roughly like this: First, farmers sell coffee cherries to local washing stations, and some washing stations pay higher prices to purchase better quality coffee cherries. Washing stations send processed green beans to delivery station warehouses.

ECX acts as a "distribution center" that achieves the following:

1. Better price protection - it purchases coffee beans from farmers at constant and relatively favorable prices, then stockpiles them;

2. Coffee grading - higher quality commands higher prices;

3. Timely information - coffee farmers can immediately get trading prices, regional processing stations, regional coffee warehouses, and other information by phone;

4. Establishment of warehouses & processing plants - as of 2012, Ethiopia had 56 warehouses distributed across 17 locations, with 9 locations having coffee warehouses, reducing transportation costs.

Take the Yirgacheffe region as an example: the delivery station is Dila, where green beans are labeled by production area and graded according to bean quality and cupping results. The higher the overall quality, the higher the selling price. Traders purchase green beans through ECX, but packaging will at most indicate the production region and village, such as "Yirgacheffe: Konga" or "Yirgacheffe: Kochere."

Ethiopian Coffee Cooperative Names and Introductions

Farmers' Cooperative Union

To facilitate direct export for farmers' cooperatives, various farmers' cooperatives have established their respective cooperative unions. Ethiopia now has 6 cooperative unions:

● Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (OCFCU)

● Sidama Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (SCFCU)

● Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (YCFCU)

● Kafa Forest Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (KFCFCU)

● Bench Maji Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (BMCFCU)

● Tepi Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (TCFCU)

The benefit of cooperative unions is that they unite scattered small farmers and cooperatives into a large collective to participate in international projects, such as Firetrade, providing a unified export to contact buyers. A certain percentage of harvest income is paid to cooperatives, which deduct management fees, retain a portion for community development, and pay the remainder to small farmers. Small farmers can obtain income more stably and conveniently to cope with planting and living expenses, which is why more and more small farmers are willing to join cooperatives.

Ethiopian Coffee Cooperative Details

Sigiga Cooperative (1600-2500m)

Production Region: Gedeo-Kochere
Members: 1862 people
Soil Type: Red-brown soil
Certifications: Fair Trade, UTZ sustainable farming, Organic coffee

Finchewan Cooperative (1450-2000m)

Production Region: Gedeo-Wenago
Members: 1271 people
Soil Type: Red-brown soil
Certifications: Fair Trade, Organic coffee

Konga Cooperative (1750-2300m)

Production Region: Gedeo-Yirgacheffe
Members: 1556 people
Soil Type: Red-brown soil
Certifications: Fair Trade, Organic coffee

Hafursa Cooperative (1750-2300m)

Production Region: Gedeo-Yirgacheffe
Members: 1975 people
Soil Type: Red-brown soil
Annual Green Bean Production: 798,000 kg
Average Farm Size: Maximum 4 hectares, approximately 600 kg per hectare annually
Facilities: Washing station
Certifications: Fair Trade, Organic coffee

Resa Cooperative (1000-1400m)

Production Region: Gedeo-Wenago
Members: 2719 people
Soil Type: Red-brown soil
Equipment: Two sets of coffee processing equipment
Certifications: Fair Trade, Organic coffee

Addis Katema Cooperative (1000-1400m)

Production Region: Gedeo-Wenago
Members: 891 people
Soil Type: Red-brown soil
Facilities: Washing station
Certifications: Fair Trade, Organic coffee

Biloya Cooperative (1600-2500m)

Production Region: Gedeo-Kochere
Members: 1203 people
Soil Type: Red-brown soil
Equipment: Two sets of coffee processing equipment
Certifications: Fair Trade, Organic coffee

Worka Cooperative (1650-2700m)

Production Region: Gedeb
Members: 305 people
Soil Type: Red-brown soil
Annual Green Bean Production: 457,000 kg
Average Farm Size: Maximum 4 hectares, approximately 699 kg per hectare annually
Facilities: All processing equipment
Certifications: Fair Trade, Organic coffee

Koke Cooperative (1750-2300m)

Production Region: Gedeo-Yirgacheffe
Members: 828 people
Soil Type: Red-brown soil
Equipment: One set of processing equipment
Certifications: Fair Trade, UTZ sustainable farming, Organic coffee

Hama Cooperative (1600-2500m)

Production Region: Gedeo-Kochere
Members: 1505 people
Soil Type: Red-brown soil
Equipment: One set of processing equipment
Certifications: Fair Trade, Organic coffee

Chichu Cooperative (1410-2000m)

Production Region: Gedeo-Dila
Members: 1675 people
Soil Type: Red-brown soil
Average Farm Size: Maximum 4 hectares, approximately 591 kg per hectare annually
Equipment: One set of processing equipment
Certifications: Fair Trade, Organic coffee

Michile Cooperative (1410-2000m)

Production Region: Gedeo-Dila
Members: 1206 people
Soil Type: Red-brown soil
Average Farm Size: Approximately 592 kg per hectare annually
Equipment: One set of processing equipment
Certifications: Fair Trade, UTZ sustainable farming, Organic coffee

Hase Haro Cooperative (1450-2000m)

Production Region: Gedeo-Wenago
Members: 1519 people
Soil Type: Red-brown soil
Average Farm Size: Maximum 4 hectares, approximately 591 kg per hectare annually
Equipment: One set of processing equipment
Certifications: Fair Trade, Organic coffee

Dumerso Cooperative (1750-2300m)

Production Region: Gedeo-Yirgacheffe
Members: 246 people
Soil Type: Red-brown soil
Equipment: Two sets of processing equipment
Certifications: Fair Trade, Organic coffee

Tumticha Cooperative (1410-2000m)

Production Region: Gedeo-Yirgacheffe
Members: 960 people
Soil Type: Red-brown soil
Equipment: Two sets of processing equipment
Certifications: Fair Trade, Organic coffee

Aramo Cooperative (1750-2300m) (90+ Chibi production area)

Production Region: Gedeo-Yirgacheffe
Members: 2254 people
Soil Type: Red-brown soil
Equipment: Two sets of processing equipment
Certifications: Fair Trade, Organic coffee

Edido Cooperative (1750-2300m)

Production Region: Gedeo-Yirgacheffe
Members: 1044 people
Soil Type: Red-brown soil
Equipment: One set of processing equipment
Certifications: Fair Trade, Organic coffee

Adame Cooperative (1000-1400m)

Production Region: Gedeo-Wenago
Members: 533 people
Soil Type: Red-brown soil
Equipment: One set of processing equipment
Certifications: Fair Trade, Organic coffee

Belekara Cooperative (1000-1400m)

Production Region: Gedeo-Wenago
Members: 685 people
Soil Type: Red-brown soil
Equipment: One set of processing equipment
Certifications: Fair Trade, Organic coffee

Adado Cooperative (1200-1700m)

Production Region: Sidamo-Bule
Members: 1128 people
Soil Type: Red-brown soil
Equipment: One set of processing equipment
Certifications: Fair Trade, Organic coffee

Haru Cooperative (1200-1700m)

Production Region: Gedeo-Yirgacheffe
Members: 1187 people
Soil Type: Red-brown soil
Equipment: One set of processing equipment
Certifications: Fair Trade, Organic coffee

New Coffee Trade Regulations

In July 2017, two new coffee trade regulations may change this situation, giving coffee farmers the right to sell their coffee to coffee processing plants within 3 days before the beans arrive at ECX warehouses.

Ethiopian Single Farm Coffee System

The single farm system has actually existed in Ethiopia, but its proportion has remained low, and traditionally it belonged to large commercial batches that did not emphasize quality. With Ethiopia's emergence in the third wave of specialty coffee over the past two to three decades, besides traditional coffee practitioners, Ethiopia has gradually seen a group of innovators influenced by Western culture who hope to bring changes to this industry. In addition to traditional exporters investing in production areas, it has also attracted a wave of people returning from Europe and America to invest in their hometowns.

How important is the single farm system (which we'll temporarily call Single Farm Project,简称SFP)? We all know that Ethiopia is dominated by small farmers, but the small farmer system cannot achieve complete traceability.

Single farms are the only answer to all these problems. Single variety batches, special processing method batches, customized batches, and other very important practical concepts in specialty coffee development all rely on this system.

For example, the Sidamo natural processed "Horse" bean belongs to a single farm, the micro-region Hambella estate.

Ethiopia Hambella Single Farm - Benti Nenqua Village

Ethiopia Hambela Benti Nenqua G1

Country: Ethiopia
Region: Oromia Region
Zone: Guji Zone
Woreda: Hambela Woreda
Kebele: Benti Nenqua Kebele
Altitude: 2,150 meters (processing plant GPS measured height)
Variety: Ethiopian Heirloom
Annual Rainfall: Approximately 1,500 - 2,000 mm
Processing Plant: Hambela

Ethiopian Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Ethiopian coffee beans offer full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they offer extremely high value - a half-pound (227 grams) package costs only about 90 yuan. Calculating at 15 grams per cup of coffee, one package can make 15 cups, with each cup costing only about 6 yuan. Compared to coffee shops selling cups for over 100 yuan each, this is truly a conscientious recommendation.