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🇪🇹 Ethiopia
Page updated: @November 28, 2024
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Contents
Mecota Trading is an Ethiopian exporting company specialising in green coffee sourced from smallholder farmers across Ethiopia’s coffee-growing regions. Established in 2023, Mecota Trading supports farmers by consolidating microlots into exportable quantities while promoting traceable and direct trade practices. The company’s model aims to facilitate fair, sustainable trade and to enhance transparency in Ethiopia's coffee market, particularly as an alternative to the traditional Ethiopian Commodity Exchange, where traceability is often limited.
Location
History
Mecota Trading was founded with the objective of consolidating microlots from smallholder farmers into viable export lots, offering a sustainable pathway to market for coffee farmers who otherwise would face barriers in reaching international buyers. Before founding Mecota Trading, Moata Raya spent 15 years working with TechnoServe on infrastructure projects that aimed to help Ethiopian producers find alternative markets outside of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange, which often obscures the traceability of coffee.
Production and Facilities
As of 2024, Mecota Trading works with 10 farmers in different regions of Ethiopia. They offer their farmers support during processing, providing information and guidance on techniques to produce specialty quality coffee.
Currently, Mecota Trading exports an average of 60 tons of green coffee per year, working closely with smallholder farmers to enhance the quality of their production. The company’s long-term goal is to establish its own washing and drying station near coffee-producing communities, which would streamline processing and reduce logistical challenges. This facility would help increase Mecota's processing capabilities and expand its impact on the local coffee sector. Mecota also intends to eventually offer farmers pre-financing, so that they can focus on cultivating exceptional coffees without having to worry about money.
Coffee and Sourcing
Mecota Trading’s coffee is known for its diversity, as Ethiopia boasts an unmatched genetic variety of coffee strains. Ethiopian coffees are generally categorized into Landrace varieties, which are native to the Ethiopian highlands, and JARC (Jimma Agricultural Research Center) varieties, which have been selectively bred for their resilience and yield. Mecota leverages these unique coffee varieties to offer its buyers premium coffee with distinct regional flavors and traceable origins.
The company primarily consolidates microlots to create exportable quantities while preserving each lot’s unique profile. This direct sourcing model allows Mecota to retain detailed information about each coffee’s origin and the farmers who grew it, a rarity in a market dominated by anonymous, pooled coffee lots.
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