Addisu Arega, the Ethiopian Minister of Agriculture, confirmed the achievement via social media, crediting the combined efforts of farmers, exporters, cooperatives, and government institutions. “It is accomplished! Ethiopia has successfully achieved its target of generating three billion USD from coffee exports this budget year,” Arega stated. The growth trajectory has been consistent, rising from $1.4 billion in 2023 to $1.43 billion in 2024, before accelerating to the current record levels.
A key driver of this expansion is the rapid growth in trade with Russia, which has become one of Ethiopia’s top 10 trading partners in Africa. Russian Ambassador to Ethiopia, Evgeny Terekhin, noted that bilateral trade nearly tripled in 2025, reaching $435 million. Coffee is a central component of this relationship, with Ethiopian exports to Russia surging from $45.9 million in 2024 to $123.3 million in 2025. In physical terms, import volumes more than doubled, climbing from 8,300 tonnes to 18,300 tonnes of green coffee.
Officials attribute the revenue increase to strategic shifts in the coffee value chain, including a prioritization of local processing to capture greater value before export. Investments in quality control, product traceability, and certification have also supported the rise in earnings. Yewda Garedew, Crop Commercialization Program Director at the Agricultural Transformation Institute, emphasized that agriculture remains a pillar of the economy, contributing 30 to 40 percent of GDP and employing approximately 79 million people.
Russian Trade Representative Yaroslav Tarasyuk highlighted opportunities for further cooperation, including technology transfer and joint investments in agricultural machinery. He identified sunflower cultivation, poultry production, and dairy development as promising areas for bilateral expansion. Additionally, Russian e-commerce platforms, including the merged entity RWB (Wildberries and Russ), are preparing to enter the Ethiopian market, supported by the country’s sovereign wealth fund.
The next major step in this economic partnership involves ongoing negotiations and feasibility studies. Rosatom, Russia’s nuclear power agency, is conducting a study to develop a nuclear power plant in Ethiopia, while Rusal and Ethiopian Investment Holdings are discussing the construction of an aluminum plant. These projects aim to diversify trade beyond commodities and enhance industrial capacity.
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