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The Ethiopian Commodities Exchange (ECX) was established by the Ethiopian government in 2008 to facilitate the buying and selling of grains and to make it more efficient. At the same time the government wanted to protect the interests of small farmers. Shortly after this coffee was also introduced into the Exchange.
All coffee is to go through the ECX now unless it comes from a cooperative (such as YCFCU) or a private estate or large plantation. Most of the coffee in Ethiopia is produced by small-holders who own 0.7 hectares on average hence having to go either through the ECX or through a cooperative.
Full lots come divided in 30 bag chop sub-lots (parchment). Exporters who are buying and selling many containers will cup through the sub-lots to select the top lots and build a full container from these.
Coffee is categorized into 81 generic grades of coffee at the ECX:
Processing:
*Washed
*Un washed
Region:
*Yirgacheffe
*Sidama
*Limu
etc
Flavor:
*A (Representative of region's cup characteristics)
*B (Less so)
Grade:
*1-9 (defect count)
