Japan May Resume Coffee Imports From Ethiopia

Japanese trading houses are in talks with Ethiopian coffee exporters to resume purchases of beans from the Horn of Africa country, a year after imports were slashed when several contaminated shipments were discovered.

“Some Japanese businesses are seriously negotiating with Ethiopian businesses for the resumption of imports to Japan,” Kinichi Komano, Japan’s ambassador to Ethiopia, said in an interview today at his office in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Japan curbed imports of Ethiopian coffee last year after shipments were seized between April and June by Japanese customs officials and found to contain “abnormally high” pesticide residues. Japanese imports of Ethiopian coffee plunged to 8,000 metric tons in 2008, from 29,000 tons a year earlier.

Ethiopia is Africa’s biggest coffee producer. Japan had previously purchased about 20 percent of the country’s exports, making it Ethiopia’s third-largest market after Germany and Saudi Arabia, according to the Trade Ministry.

Mocha beans from Ethiopia are highly regarded in Japan for their distinctive flavor and last year’s ban forced coffee shop owners to seek new blends.

Cautious Importers

Japanese pesticide residue tolerances are about 100 times more strict than those under U.S. law, Komano said. Companies including Starbucks have continued to bring Ethiopian beans into Japan during the shortage by roasting them in the U.S. and re- exporting them to Japan. Roasting the beans eliminates all pesticide residues, he said.

Two teams of Ethiopian and Japanese researchers concluded last year that the pesticide residue came from the use of contaminated coffee bags. Ethiopia ceremonially burned thousands of the bags last year, according to Komano.

Japan has since helped train Ethiopian lab technicians who will now be able to examine pesticide levels in Ethiopia before the beans are shipped. Komano said he expected normal trade to resume as soon as one large importer decides to return to the Ethiopian market.

“Our businesses are very much cautious,” Komano said. “If one business succeeds the others will follow.”

Source: Bloomberg.com

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