Economic Affairs
Overview
The Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) operates as a technical arm within the Organisation, coordinating economic and development initiatives aimed at driving the economic transformation and enhancing value addition within Africa's coffee sector.
The primary mission of the DEA is to foster socio-economic transformation by performing key functions. These include fostering collaboration with African Coffee Boards, the private sector, and regional and international agencies. The DEA is tasked with the identification, collection, and analysis of economic and coffee-related data, refining information management for market analysis, & contributing significantly to the growth and development of the African coffee industry
Activities
The DEA spearheads market review reports and promotional programs through initiatives such as the Drink African Coffee Build Africa (DACBA), the African Coffee Week (ACW), under the auspices of the Economic and Development Committee (EDC), and the Private Sector Consultative Group (PSCG), which are the technical arms of the IACO General Assembly. At the same time, the DEA actively engages in the daily operations of the IACO General Secretariat. The Department's activities align with the strategic objective 3 of the IACO strategic plan, reinforcing its commitment to the socio-economic transformation of the African coffee sector.
The export markets for green coffee from some major African countries reveal distinct regional preferences and dependencies. Cameroon's green coffee mainly targets Algeria (33.6%), Portugal (22.2%), and Italy (13.1%), with Europe and Africa representing 51.2% and 40.3% of its exports, respectively. Côte d'Ivoire similarly relies heavily on Algeria, which absorbs 79.9% of its green coffee exports, while Spain (14.1%) is a notable secondary market in Europe. Côte d'Ivoire’s soluble coffee primarily serves West Africa, with Burkina Faso (31.4%), Senegal (29.8%), and Nigeria (14.2%) being major destinations. Ethiopia’s green coffee exports are predominantly directed towards Asia (54.5%) and Europe (29.5%), with Saudi Arabia (23.3%), Belgium (9.8%), Germany (9.4%), and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (7.6%) being key markets. Rwanda’s green coffee exports are more widely distributed, with Switzerland (21.8%) and the USA (12.2%) as major markets, while a significant 40.8% falls under diverse “Other” destinations. Europe remains the largest continental market for Rwanda, absorbing 39.4% of its exports. Uganda’s green coffee exports are heavily concentrated in Europe, which receives 65.4% of its exports, followed by Asia (16.4%) and Africa (14.0%), indicating a strong dependency on European markets. This overview highlights the diverse and region-specific market penetration of green coffee exports from these African nations, with significant variations in continental and country level dependencies.
