The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Ethiopian global shipments during 2019. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Ethiopia.

1. Coffee, tea, spices: US$843.6 million (32.6% of total exports)
2. Oil seeds: $483.5 million (18.7%)
3. Live trees, plants, cut flowers: $276 million (10.7%)
4. Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: $168.1 million (6.5%)
5. Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): $139.3 million (5.4%)
6. Machinery including computers: $131.5 million (5.1%)
7. Gems, precious metals: $79.9 million (3.1%)
8. Vegetables: $69.3 million (2.7%)
9. Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $69.2 million (2.7%)
10. Electrical machinery, equipment: $48.9 million (1.9%)

Ethiopia’s top 10 exports are highly concentrated, representing 89.2% of the overall value of Ethiopian global shipments.

Unknitted and non-crocheted clothing or accessories was the fastest-grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 96.6% since 2018. In second place for improving export sales was electric machinery and equipment thanks to an 87.5% improvement. Ethiopia’s shipments of machinery including computers posted the third-fastest gain in value up by 53.7%.

The leading decliner among Ethiopia’s top 10 export categories was vegetables via its -53.1% annual drop.

At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, coffee represents Ethiopia’s most valuable exported product at 32.3% of the country’s total. In second place were oil seeds (13.6%) trailed by fresh or dried flowers for bouquets or ornamental purposes (9.3%), turbo-jets (3.9%), gold (2.8%), unroasted ground nuts (2.5%), unknitted and non-crocheted men’s suits and trousers (2.2%), dried shelled vegetables (also 2.2%), soya beans (2.1%) then knitted or crocheted t-shirts and vests (1.5%).

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 represent 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$840 million (Down by -3% since 2018)
2. Oil seeds: $472.1 million (Up by 7.9%)
3. Live trees, plants, cut flowers: $274.5 million (Up by 1.3%)
4. Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: $149.4 million (Up by 765.7%)
5. Gems, precious metals: $78.2 million (Reversing a -$46.7 million deficit)
6. Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $62.5 million (Down by -22.1%)
7. Vegetables: $57.5 million (Down by -56.6%)
8. Meat: $28.4 million (Down by -72.1%)
9. Ores, slag, ash: $10.5 million (Down by -39.3%)
10. Leather/animal gut articles: $6.3 million (Up by 39%)

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 a -$5.8 billion trade deficit during 2019, resulting from an -18.1% drop from the -$7.1 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2018.

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. Aircraft, spacecraft: -US$1.5 billion (Down by -20.7% since 2018)
2. Machinery including computers: -$1.48 billion (Down by -2.5%)
3. Electrical machinery, equipment: -$964.7 million (Up by 22.6%)
4. Pharmaceuticals: -$454.5 million (Up by 9.1%)
5. Iron, steel: -$391.6 million (Down by -13.7%)
6. Vehicles: -$386.7 million (Down by -14.4%)
7. Plastics, plastic articles: -$259.2 million (Down by -23.5%)
8. Optical, technical, medical apparatus: -$206.9 million (Up by 13.5%)
9. Cereals: -$192.5 million (Down by -10.9%)
10. Articles of iron or steel: -$184.4 million (Down by -22.2%)

Ethiopia has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under aircraft and spacecraft as well as the machinery including computers category. The loss-leader under the latter 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)
• Ethio Telecom (mobile, fixed line, broadband services)
• Marathon Motors Engineering (automobiles)
• Yebbo Communication Network (software, websites)
• Yousran International (sesame seeds, spice seeds, edible oils)

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

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