Federal regulators are preparing a Coffee Fund to shield growers and exporters from collapsing prices and ageing trees.
Nearly 80pc of the country’s coffee stock is too old to yield well. According to Shafi Umer, deputy director of the Ethiopian Coffee & Tea Authority, a technical committee is overseeing the reserve.
The pooled fund would work as insurance. It is meant to compensate stakeholders across the value chain when the market turns.
The fund would cushion suppliers and exporters when global prices swing.