Wondwossen Mezlekia’s coffee politics blog, Poor Farmer, has another damning piece on the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange, this from a study commissioned by the Partnership Program between the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs Government and Wageningen UR:

The Ethiopian Commodity Exchange cannot meet the demands of the high value markets, such as the Japanese market and the demand for sustainably and safely produced mainstream products by major Western retailers. But it does meet the demands of the major importer, China, and other countries that pay rather low prices.

He’s a controversial figure, that Wondwossen, always willing to battle against the Ethiopian government.

The post Wondwossen Wound Up On Ethiopian Economic Ethos appeared first on Sprudge.com.

The Ethiopian government has passed legislation effectively criminalizing the use of VoIP services like Google Talk and Skype. Violators can face heavy fines and up to fifteen years of jail time for using the low-cost video/phone services. VoIP services are especially popular in internet cafes across the country. Africa Review reports “The government in the law’s introductory annex defends such legislation as a timely and appropriate response to the ever increasing security threats globally and in Ethiopia. But observers say the law is aimed at further limiting freedom of expression and the flow of information in the nation of 85 million people.” Al Jazeera has more:

Government protecting of the telecommunications industry is not a new tactic. One Ethiopian sought asylum in the United Kingdom after the government accused him of using Skype to run an illegal competing phone service. A petition to stop his deportation from December 2011 was widely circulated online.

For many Ethiopians, the law is just the latest development in a trend of restrictive behaviour on the part of the government.

Further reading:

Reporters Without Borders: Government Steps Up Control Of News And Information

Africa Review: New internet law criminalizes Skype, installs Internet filters

The post Green Buyers Beware: Ethiopia Bans Skype! appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Sprudgie Award winner Aleco Chigounis was there, along with several other coffee buyers. We followed along with their tweets:

@jasonwhat: Who buys Ethipopia’s coffee? 1. Germany 2. USA 3. Saudi Arabia 4. Belgium 5. Italy #EAFCA #Africa

@AlecoChigounis: Duromina wins 1st prize at Taste of Harvest comp in Addis this weekend. Congratulations @sweetmarias, @coffeeshrub and @stumptowncoffee!

And now, according to EthioSports.com, EAFCA is now AFCA.

Eastern Africa Fine Coffees Association (EAFCA) became African Fine Coffees Association (AFCA) on Friday, thereby embracing the continent to promote African coffee to the world.

According to the chairman, more and more African nations have an interest to join EAFCA.

“It is not because we persuade or lobby with the rest [coffee growing] African countries but it is the sheer interest of other African countries to join EAFCA,” Kalua said. “Looking at our activities and achievements through the years, more and more African countries are requesting us to be members. And that is why we have now changed our name from EAFCA to AFCA as EAFCA stands for East African countries as the name suggests.”

And apparently there’s a barista competition going down? Our weekend was okay, but man, Ethiopia was clearly the place to be.

The post East Africa’s EAFCA Now Africa’s AFCA appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Controversial on the message boards but always prepared with comment, our favorite Ethiopian blogger out of Seattle – Wondwossen Mezlekia – has penned another glorious piece about the the Bladdergate fiasco of 2011. Here’s his eloquent take on how it all went down:

Last month, coffee buyers across the globe had a rare glimpse into Ethiopians’ day to day experience, where haphazard policymaking is used by the government to interfere in and control people’s business whenever it feels like it. A new directive requiring the shipment of coffee in bulk container (a process of filling coffee in ‘dry containers’ fitted with a liner, as opposed to loading coffee packed in 60-kilogram jute-bags) suddenly surfaced in mid November and shocked the market.[1] It was revoked thirty days later because of pressures from foreign diplomats, plummeting sales, and a cloud of fear of losing coffee buyers for good.

It’s not clear how it all began, but it appears some genius one day figured out the quickest way to “modernize the country’s export packaging and shipment standards” and the government decided to begin shipping coffee in bulk containers within two years. And, sometime during the 2010/11 fiscal year, an anonymous “investor” was granted a permit to import coffee blowers (machines equipped with a fan to generate a controlled pressure air current that throws coffee into containers, and a suction system to remove the dust created by the process.) Then, the operation began rolling out.

Read the rest of Wondwossen’s details on the Ministry of Trade by surfing over to Mr. Mezlekia’s blog, Poor Farmer. (Ed note: if there is anyone out there looking to start a dedicated coffee-themed early 80s synth-pop band, Ministry of Trade would make for an excellent name.)

The post Wondwossen Wonders Why Bladdergate Burst appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Various sources are claiming that the Executive Board of the Ethiopia Exporters Association has met with the Ethiopian Ministry of Trade, coming to a resolution to lift the bulk shipment regulation. We’ve been following Bladdergate closely over the past week, and this comes to us as great news for specialty buyers.

Another source with contacts in the Ethiopia wrote in to us this morning, claiming that the Ethiopian government has postponed the enforcement of their bulk shipment requirements until the 2012/2013 harvest season.

The Ministry has yet to release an official statement.

So has the ban been lifted? Or merely delayed for a year?

Developing…

The post Ethiopia 60kg Bag Restriction Lifted? appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Tuesday Update [12/6 1:55 PM PST] Two worthwhile developments to share with you today:

We’ve long been following the work of Wondwossen Mezlekia – both for his literally wonderful name and his work at Poor Farmer, a polemical Seattle-based coffee blog that covers Ethiopian coffee news with a watchful, at times controversial eye. Anyone reading this should direct their browser post haste to this post on Poor Farmer, from which this is an excerpt:

The Government of Ethiopia has recently issued yet another directive that is filled with ambiguity and disregard to proper implementation of trade policies that affect everyone in the logistics supply chain…The directive is difficult to comprehend in more ways than one. First, the letter uses “bulk container” and “loose container” interchangeably and without distinction…

The directive indicates the possibility of granting a special permit when approved by the Ministry of Trade, but does not disclose the requirements and procedures for requesting or granting exceptions to the coffees that can be exempted from the rule. It seems that exporters or buyers will need to visit someone at the Ministry of Trade..judging from the reactions of international trade partners to the directive, the policy change was not discussed with or publicized enough to reach most of the small and medium-sized coffee roasters in North America and Europe.

Mr. Mezlekia goes on to offer a rough translation of the government directive from Amharic to English, as signed by Yakob Yala, State Minister of Trade. Mr. Mezlekia is a polarizing figure in the specialty coffee blogosphere, but this is brave, bold, must-read stuff…

You should also have a look here on the Counter Culture flickr page. Tim Hill has just returned home from Ethiopia, and his photos and commentary offer a fascinating view from origin over the past few weeks.

On one hand it seems like another hoop the Ethiopian government is making people go through, and people don’t understand why. Unlike the ECX, I personally don’t understand the “why” of this move. Is it the whole issue with the tainted burlap bags that delayed exports a few years ago? Is it cost savings? Lack of burlap in the country? Will this help coffee move faster out of Djibouti (from which Ethiopian coffee ships)?

Though I do not know “why,” I am going to assume there is a reason, just like there is a reason people in the US and other places are not happy about it. The thing I am taking away from this – and the thing I respect – is that Ethiopia once again is not afraid of change.

Updates and new links as this feature develops, right here on Sprudge.com.

Monday Update [12/5 12:49 PM PST]As details continue to pour in to our Bladdergate News Desk, an anonymous tipster writes:

Today the board members of the Ethiopian Coffee Exporters Association (ECEA) had a meeting with the Minister of Trade.

The government’s stance regarding bulk shipment has not changed; if buyers want to purchase Ethiopian coffee they must be willing to accept bulk shipment.

Personally, I think once the year-over-year stats continue showing lower export volumes and value even though this is a high crop year, minds may begin to change.

Stay tuned for all the latest throughout the week.

New Bladdergate Update [12/3 2:06 PM PST] Continuing his invaluable tipstering, Noah Namowicz of Cafe Imports offers this update to our ongoing Bladdergate coverage. Take it away, Noah:

Hey guys,

So it looks as if this is still up in the air (see below), apparently far from resolved as some might have indicated previously. We assume the law WILL change, as it obviously causes a lot of issues, but you never know.

Ethiopian coffee exporters association (ECEA) submitted a letter to Ministry of Trade (MOT) stating 100% bulk shipment will hurt our industry and that the buyers should have the option to purchase in jute or bulk. Board members of the ECEA met with EXC authorities to discuss many issues regarding trade which included imposing 100% bulk shipments, which could highly affect the Ethiopian government’s expectation of exporting 270,000 MT for the upcoming fiscal year. Head of the authority will talk to Ato. Yakob Yala, Minister of Data at MOT, to convey all our concerns and I am sure the board will have the opportunity to address all our issues to the MOT in the near future.

Since imposing bulk shipment regulations, coffee export is down, transactions at EXC are down and earlier this week reject prices at EXC were higher than the arriving green coffee prices. In my personal opinion the bulk shipment issues will be revised soon, as coffee export plays a crucial role in the government’s 5 year growth transformation plan (GTP).

Thanks, Noah. Stay tuned to Sprudge as this story continues to whirligig.

Bladdergate Update [12/2 8:00AM CST] An anonymous tipster approached us with the following insight:

According to the Ministry of Trade in Addis, the reasons [for proposing new size restrictions on coffee exports] are:
o Maintaining quality of shipment
o Controlling theft upon transport
o Reduce weight loss
o Minimizing extra cost for bags purchase for exporters
o Minimizing extra cost of bags disposal for buyer/roaster
o Benefiting exporters from premium paid for bulk shipment
o Alleviating problem of jute bags shortage

There was a “come to Jesus meeting” in Addis with the MOT a couple of days ago with representatives of most of the major exporters and traders of Ethiopian coffee [sic] where they presented their complaints about this new law as well as some of the other newer [sic] regulations set to come into play this season. A formal letter was submitted. More to follow…

More information from us as it develops.

Bladdergate Update [1:31PM PST]: Sprudge commenter Trish has written in, “According to Samuel of Keffa, who went to the Ethiopian Embassy in DC today to ask about it, Specialty lots are exempt from these.”

The general consensus amongst coffee buyers is that this law (or directive, or whatever the loose translation is) is either “fantastically hush hush or dead in the water”.

An anonymous tipster wrote in to Sprudge with the following insight:

Very few buyers of Ethiopian coffee, even the major players, will be able to deal with containerloads, and unless importers are expected to rebag at their end (which I doubt they’ll be happy to do) this is just setting the Ethiopia coffee trade up to fail. The reasons I was given for why this idea/suggestion/directive/law is there in the first place aren’t unreasonable, but I think there is just no way this will stay as a law. Not only the tiny specialty side but the commercial side would have been seriously up in arms about this for a long time already if it is a real deal, and the fact that no one has heard of it until now just tells me it’s all a bit unlikely to happen.

—-

Breaking news from Ethiopia, via Noah Namowicz from Cafe Imports: a new law by the Ethiopian government that prohibits exporting 60kg bags of coffee from the country. We’re told that all coffee shipped out of Ethiopia must now be done in bulk and contained in a massive homogenized bladder.

Noah tweets:

40,000 lbs in one big bladder or nothing out of Ethiopia is the word…COOPs are not exempt, this is wild. Lot separation in Ethiopia may now be illegal if this is true.

This law, if enforced, may effectively mean the end of micro lot separation in Ethiopia. We’ve checked our calendars to make sure this isn’t an April Fools joke, and you might want to as well. This is nuts.

Developing…

The post An End To Lot Separation In Ethiopia? appeared first on Sprudge.com.

From the Square Mile Coffee Blog:

Passing through Ziway we decided to pull off the road at Lake Langamo for a quick coffee and some breakfast, much needed as the early start and 34 degrees C at 9:30 am was starting to cause a bit a drowsiness at least on my part. Refuelled it was onwards through the cute little town of Negele where I suddenly noticed what was to become a common sight as we went on: lots of roadside pingpong and foosball tables – I kinda wanted to pull over for a game but we had to rush on! At about 2000 masl the landscape started becoming a lot more green and lush, such a contrast to dry, dusty Harar, and the vegetation changed in, well, many ways. Hitting Shashemene Mike explained that this was the spiritual home of Rastafarians in Ethiopia- emperor Haile Selassie was a holy person for Rastafarians in Jamaica and so many made the pilgrimage to the emperors palace in this little town. Many were given land and settled, and in between their rasta history museum and pictures of Bob Marley you could certainly smell the distinct aroma of another rastafarian influence. Seems that if you feel like indulging in something other than chat, Shashemene is the place to go! Kids will freely com up and offer you ‘medicine’ in code names like ‘marlboro’ or ‘marlboro light’ – depending on your level of expertise.

We briefly paused just outside Awasa, the capital of Sidamo, to have a cup of coffee with Phil and Ed from Schluter who just so happened to be accompanied by Mr. Haileselassie Ambaye, the man behind our Kebado Dara! He’s been in coffee for close to 20 years, in the local market selling coffee to the akrabis (the owners of the washing stations, here in Yirgacheffe also called suppliers), as an akrabi himself, and for the last 6 years also working as an exporter. He now has 18 people working in his office, is building a new dry mill and is investing in new trucks for transport, so I’m looking forward to seeing where he goes from here.

The feature just gets better from here, a real slice-of-life bit of coffee reporting that really takes you there. We can’t recommend this stuff enough, but we can double-link it, so seriously, click here.

The post Anette Moldvær Writes From Ethiopia appeared first on Sprudge.com.

This leaked cable says that Starbucks gave up, but expected the US Government to take up the fight on their behalf. Kinda small shakes now, but could be an interesting point to remember when Howard Schultz decides to start running for public office. (Trust us, he will.)

The post WikiLeaks Cable Demonstrates Starbucks’ Pull appeared first on Sprudge.com.