Coffee & Oilseed Export Trading Company Under Directive 1082/2025

What we checked

• Scored 76 of 100 by our analysis model, which ranks this list. Not an independent rating.
• 3 source reports read and listed below.
• We have people in this market who can open doors on this deal.
• Desk analysis only. No audit, no site visit and no management meeting has taken place unless we tell you otherwise in writing.

What is driving it

• Directive 1082/2025 opens export of raw coffee, oilseeds, and livestock to foreign investors for the first time
• Ethiopia's AfCFTA membership expanding duty-free access across 54-country continental market
• Global specialty-coffee and oilseed demand growth, with Ethiopian arabica commanding premium European pricing

What could go wrong

• Security disruptions in Oromia and Amhara coffee-growing regions can interrupt supply chains seasonally
• Birr inflation and residual FX controls may compress margins if repatriation is delayed

Full analysis

Ethiopia is experiencing a sustained FDI surge, recording $4.32 billion in foreign direct investment during the 2025/26 fiscal year — an 8% year-on-year increase — cementing its position as East Africa's top FDI destination. The investment climate has been fundamentally reshaped by a series of bold liberalisation moves: Ethiopian Investment Board Directive No. 1082/2025 opened previously closed wholesale, retail, import, and export trade sectors to foreign capital (including raw coffee, oilseeds, and livestock exports); a market-based foreign exchange regime (FXD/01/2024 and the further-liberalising FXD/04/2026) ended the parallel FX market premium; and active WTO accession negotiations — described by the Working Party Chair in April 2026 as reaching 'a decisive juncture' — are driving harmonisation with international trade norms. The Invest in Ethiopia 2026 Forum closed with over $13 billion in pledged deals, spanning renewable energy, manufacturing SEZs, and agro-processing. Ethiopia's Special Economic Zones generated $83 million in export revenue in just nine months of 2024/25 and attracted roughly $1.2 billion in SEZ-specific FDI. Structural risks persist — sub-regional security tensions in Amhara and Oromia, a sovereign bond default undergoing restructuring, and elevated inflation — but the macro reform trajectory backed by a $3.4 billion IMF Extended Credit Facility provides a credible stabilisation anchor for investors with a medium-to-long time horizon.

Ethiopian Investment Board Directive No. 1082/2025, issued in June 2025, for the first time authorises foreign investors to directly export raw coffee, oilseeds, and livestock — sectors previously locked to domestic traders only. Simultaneously, the newly liberalised FX regime (FXD/04/2026) now allows full foreign-currency retention for service exporters and forward-exchange hedging, removing the historic repatriation barrier that deterred European SME traders.

Market drivers:

• Directive 1082/2025 opens export of raw coffee, oilseeds, and livestock to foreign investors for the first time
• Ethiopia's AfCFTA membership expanding duty-free access across 54-country continental market
• Global specialty-coffee and oilseed demand growth, with Ethiopian arabica commanding premium European pricing

Risks:

• Security disruptions in Oromia and Amhara coffee-growing regions can interrupt supply chains seasonally
• Birr inflation and residual FX controls may compress margins if repatriation is delayed

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.dandreapartners.com/ethiopia-2026-a-new-gateway-for-foreign-direct-investment-in-africa/

Related opportunities