ADDIS ABABA, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia has announced a record 866-million-U.S.-dollar earning from coffee export during the just concluded fiscal year.
The announcement by the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Development and Marketing Authority on Wednesday said Ethiopia has secured the revenue from the export of 221,000 tonnes of coffee to the global market.
According to the authority, the country has managed to achieve 92 percent of its targets in coffee export sector during the 2016/2017 fiscal year.
The authority further hailed the performance as "a very great achievement" compared to the previous years as the quantity of coffee product exported grew by 11.5 percent while the income generated from coffee export increased by 20 percent.
Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Belgium, Sudan and South Korea are among the top importers of the Ethiopian coffee, accounting for close to 86 percent of the total coffee exported from Ethiopia, according to the authority.
Ethiopia is one of Africa's largest producers of Arabica coffee. Coffee production is dubbed as the backbone of the country's agriculture-led economy.
The East African country also announced 74 million dollars earning from gold exports during the same fiscal year.
The revenue was reduced by half from the previous period, when Ethiopia earned 150 million dollars from gold exports.
The Ethiopian Mines, Petroleum and Natural Gas has blamed primarily the contraband gold trading for the decrease in gold exports revenue.
