Specialty Coffee & Oilseed Export Trading Company Under New Directive 1082/2025

What we checked

• Scored 74 of 100 by our analysis model, which ranks this list. Not an independent rating.
• 3 source reports read and listed below.
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What is driving it

• Directive 1082/2025 opens coffee and oilseed export licensing to foreign and diaspora-owned firms for the first time in decades
• Ethiopia is Africa's largest coffee producer and global specialty-coffee demand continues to grow, with European roasters actively seeking traceable single-origin supply
• WTO accession progress and AfCFTA membership are reducing tariff and customs friction for Ethiopian agricultural exports to regional and global markets

What could go wrong

• Birr liquidity and forex repatriation constraints persist despite the 2024 float — exporters must navigate National Bank of Ethiopia hard-currency rules
• Regional insecurity in coffee-growing Oromia and ethnic tensions documented by the Capital Newspaper can disrupt supply chains and logistics

Full analysis

Ethiopia is posting record FDI figures — USD 4.32 billion in fiscal year 2025/26, an 8% year-on-year increase — driven by sweeping macroeconomic reforms, a floating birr, and 528 new investment licenses issued by the Ethiopian Investment Commission. The government has liberalised previously closed trade sectors under Directive 1082/2025, opening import, export, wholesale, and retail markets to foreign investors, including the right to export raw coffee, oilseeds, and livestock. WTO accession negotiations have reached a 'decisive juncture' as of April 2026, with bilateral market-access deals under active finalisation. Ethiopia's renewable energy market — estimated at 8.64 GW in 2026 — is growing at a projected 20.9% CAGR to 2031, anchored by industrial-park solar manufacturing and the Ethiopia–Kenya HVDC power export corridor. Meanwhile, the new Dire Dawa Free Trade Zone and horticulture export growth are creating structural gaps in cold-chain logistics that remain largely unserved by private capital.

Ethiopia's Investment Board Directive 1082/2025, enacted in June 2025, for the first time authorises foreign investors to directly export raw coffee, oilseeds, and livestock — sectors previously reserved exclusively for domestic traders. Ethiopia is simultaneously advancing WTO accession negotiations that 'reached a decisive juncture' in April 2026, signalling further trade-facilitation reforms that will compress export transaction costs for early movers.

Market drivers:

• Directive 1082/2025 opens coffee and oilseed export licensing to foreign and diaspora-owned firms for the first time in decades
• Ethiopia is Africa's largest coffee producer and global specialty-coffee demand continues to grow, with European roasters actively seeking traceable single-origin supply
• WTO accession progress and AfCFTA membership are reducing tariff and customs friction for Ethiopian agricultural exports to regional and global markets

Risks:

• Birr liquidity and forex repatriation constraints persist despite the 2024 float — exporters must navigate National Bank of Ethiopia hard-currency rules
• Regional insecurity in coffee-growing Oromia and ethnic tensions documented by the Capital Newspaper can disrupt supply chains and logistics

Sources

What the analysis was built on. Some rows hold a headline, some hold the address of the report; both are printed as filed. We do not host the originals.

• www.addisinsight.net/2025/06/13/ethiopia-opens-trade-sectors-to-foreign-investors-new-directive-unlocks-export-import-wholesale-and-retail-markets/
• practiceguides.chambers.com/practice-guides/investing-in-2026/ethiopia/trends-and-developments/O23716
• www.wto.org/english/news_e/news26_e/acc_22apr26_376_e.htm

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