The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is located on the Horn of Africa, a peninsula in Northeast Africa. Ethiopia shipped US$3.08 billion worth of goods around the globe in 2022, up by 15.4% compared to $2.67 billion during 2018.

Year over year, Ethiopia’s most recent dollar amount represents a flatlining 0.9% gain from $3.1 billion in 2021.

Ethiopia’s Major Trading Partners

The latest available country-specific data shows that 72% of products exported from Ethiopia were bought by importers in: Somalia (11.8% of Ethiopia’s global total), United States of America (10.8%), Germany (8%), Netherlands (7.5%), Saudi Arabia (7%), United Arab Emirates (6.2%), Belgium (4.3%), Japan (3.47%), Israel (3.46%), Djibouti (3.4%), India (3.3%) and South Korea (2.8%).

From a continental perspective, 40.7% of Ethiopia’s exports by value were delivered to Asian countries while 27.4% were sold to importers in Europe. Ethiopia shipped another 19.1% worth of goods to Africa, with another 11.5% went to North America.

Smaller percentages went to Oceania (1.1%) mostly Australia and New Zealand, then Latin America (0.1%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.

Given Ethiopia’s population of 104.1 million people, its total $3.08 billion in 2022 exports translates to roughly $30 for every resident in the northeast African nation. That dollar amount is about the same as the average per capita one year earlier during 2021.

Ethiopia’s Top 10 Exports

The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Ethiopian global shipments during 2022. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Ethiopia.

1. Coffee, tea, spices: US$1.5 billion (49.4% of total exports)
2. Vegetables: $529.7 million (17.2%)
3. Oil seeds: $284.4 million (9.2%)
4. Live trees, plants, cut flowers: $255.2 million (8.3%)
5. Meat: $90.9 million (2.9%)
6. Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: $75.4 million (2.4%)
7. Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): $49.7 million (1.6%)
8. Live animals: $27.1 million (0.9%)
9. Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $24.3 million (0.8%)
10. Glass: $18 million (0.6%)

Ethiopia’s top 10 exports accounted for 93.4% of the overall value of its global shipments.

Glass was the fastest grower among Ethiopia’s top 10 export categories, up by 196.7% from 2021 to 2022.

The only other top gainer was the coffee, tea and spices category via a 26.1% advance.

The leading decliner among Ethiopia’s top 10 export categories was oil seeds, incurring a -30.2% year-over-year drop.

At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, coffee represents Ethiopia’s most valuable exported product at almost half (49.1%) of the country’s total.

In second place were trailed by miscellaneous fresh or chilled vegetables (7.5%), fresh or dried flowers for bouquets or ornamental purposes (7.4%), oil seeds (6.8%), dried shelled vegetables (5.6%), sheep or goat meat (2.9%), sweet potatoes and similar root vegetables (1.9%), soya beans (1.4%), unknitted and non-crocheted men’s suits or trousers (0.9%), then dried vegetables (also 0.9%).

Products Attracting Ethiopia’s Largest Trade Surpluses

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$1.5 billion (Up by 26.7% since 2021)
2. Vegetables: $334.2 million (Down by -32.6%)
3. Oil seeds: $269.4 million (Down by -30.6%)
4. Live trees, plants, cut flowers: $250.1 million (Down by -12.5%)
5. Meat: $90.2 million (Down by -3.1%)
6. Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: $48.6 million (Down by -5.9%)
7. Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $24.2 million (Down by -15.4%)
8. Live animals: $18 million (Down by -27%)
9. Ores, slag, ash: $14.3 million (Up by 127%)
10. Paper yarn, woven fabric: $3.1 million (Up by 175.3%)

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.

Products Causing Ethiopia’s Worst Trade Deficits

Ethiopia incurred an overall -$13.5 billion trade deficit during 2022, resulting from a 10% expansion from the -$12.2 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2021.

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$1.6 billion (Down by -7.9% since 2021)
2. Vehicles: -$1.5 billion (Up by 25.7%)
3. Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: -$1.41 billion (Up by 1.3%)
4. Electrical machinery, equipment: -$1.35 billion (Up by 37.3%)
5. Cereals: -$1.34 billion (Down by -19.9%)
6. Fertilizers: -$1.3 billion (Up by 119.3%)
7. Mineral fuels including oil: -$1.1 billion (Down by -1.3%)
8. Plastics, plastic articles: -$815.8 million (Up by 22.1%)
9. Pharmaceuticals: -$784.1 million (Down by -3.2%)
10. Sugar, sugar confectionery: -$587.2 million (Down by -0.9%)

Ethiopia has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the machinery including computers category as well as mineral fuels including oil.

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)

 
357,509,000,000 0.9%

In macroeconomic terms, Ethiopia’s total exported goods represent 0.9% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2022 ($357.5 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 0.9% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2022 compares to 1% for 2022. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Ethiopia’s total economic performance, albeit based on relatively short timeframe.

Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Ethiopia’s unemployment rate averaged 4% for 2022, up from 3.9% one year earlier in 2021 per the World Data Atlas.

Ethiopia’s capital city is Addis Ababa.

See also Ethiopia’s Top Trading Partners, Ethiopia’s Top 10 Imports, China’s Top Trading Partners, India’s Top Trading Partners and Top African Export Countries

Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Country Profiles. Accessed on May 29, 2023

Forbes, Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on May 29, 2023

International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Databases (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on May 29, 2023

International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 29, 2023

Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 29, 2023

The World Bank, Official Exchange Rate (LCU per US$, period average) – Ethiopia. Accessed on May 29, 2023

Wikipedia, List of Companies of Ethiopia. Accessed on May 29, 2023

Zepol’s company summary highlights by country. Accessed on May 29, 2023