The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Ethiopian global shipments during 2017. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Ethiopia.

At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, Ethiopia’s most valuable exported products are coffee followed by miscellaneous oil seeds and oleaginous fruits.

1. Coffee, tea, spices: US$963 million (33.6% of total exports)
2. Vegetables: $538.4 million (18.8%)
3. Oil seeds: $446.3 million (15.6%)
4. Live trees, plants, cut flowers: $221.9 million (7.8%)
5. Gems, precious metals: $125.7 million (4.4%)
6. Meat: $97.1 million (3.4%)
7. Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $74.8 million (2.6%)
8. Live animals: $61.9 million (2.2%)
9. Electrical machinery, equipment: $56.2 million (2%)
10. Footwear: $45.5 million (1.6%)

Ethiopia’s top 10 exports are highly concentrated, representing 91.9% of the overall value of Ethiopian global shipments.

Electrical machinery and equipment was the fastest-growing among the top 10 export categories, up 175.1% from 2016 to 2017.

The coffee, tea and spices category placed second via a 27.2% gain. Ethiopia’s exported coffee generated the bulk of these international sales.

Shipments of footwear from Ethiopia posted the third-fastest gain via a 22.5% improvement.

Two categories declined in value, namely Ethiopian exports of live animals (down -31.8%) and oil seeds (down -13.7%).

The following types of Ethiopian product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.

In a nutshell, net exports represents the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.

1. Coffee, tea, spices: US$958.3 million (Up by 27.2% since 2016)
2. Vegetables: $463.5 million (Up by 5.2%)
3. Oil seeds: $436.5 million (Down by -14.1%)
4. Live trees, plants, cut flowers: $219.4 million (Up by 3.2%)
5. Gems, precious metals: $109.4 million (Up by 0.3%)
6. Meat: $96.4 million (Up by 3.5%)
7. Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $70.2 million (Up by 4.6%)
8. Live animals: $53.1 million (Down by -36.5%)
9. Cotton: $13.2 million (Up by 75.8%)
10. Ores, slag, ash: $9.3 million (Up by 42.8%)

Ethiopia has highly positive net exports in the international trade of coffee. In turn, these cashflows indicate Ethiopia’s strong competitive advantages under the coffee, tea and spices product category.

Overall Ethiopia incurred an -$11.8 billion trade deficit during 2017, resulting in a -14.2% drop from the -$13.8 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2016.

Below are exports from Ethiopia that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Ethiopia’s goods trail its importer spending on foreign products.

1. Machinery including computers: -US$2.7 billion (Up by 1% since 2016)
2. Vehicles : -$1.4 billion (Up by 1%)
3. Electrical machinery, equipment: -$1.2 billion (Down by -28.2%)
4. Mineral fuels including oil: -$1.2 billion (Down by -14.4%)
5. Iron, steel: -$799.2 million (Down by -10.4%)
6. Plastics, plastic articles: -$631.4 million (Up by 14.5%)
7. Cereals: -$613 million (Down by -36.1%)
8. Articles of iron or steel: -$569.4 million (Down by -28.8%)
9. Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: -$537 million (Up by 5.2%)
10. Pharmaceuticals: -$534.5 million (Down by -18.9%)

Ethiopia has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the machinery including computers category. The loss-leader under that category is turbo-jets, a capital-intensive and highly technical commodity that Ethiopia finds challenging to manufacture.

Ethiopian Export Companies

Given that Ethiopia is an emerging economy, it should come as no surprise that not one Ethiopian corporation appears on the Forbes Global 2000 list.

Wikipedia does document some Ethiopian export companies. Selected examples are shown below:

• Ambo Mineral Water (bottled mineral water)
• Marathon Motors Engineering (automobiles)
• Yousran International (sesame seeds, spice seeds, edible oils)
• Yebbo Communication Network (software, websites)
• Ethio Telecom (mobile, fixed line, broadband services)

According to global trade intelligence firm Zepol, the following companies are examples of Ethiopian exporters representing diverse industries during 2014:

• Haicof Limited (coffee)
• Packtra (polyesters, lamps)
• Max Export (polypropylene)
• A Oil Seeds and Cereals Export (beans including kidney beans)
• Harar Brewery Share (malt beer)