Sources at the Ministry of Agriculture in Addis Ababa told Reuters they were aware of several complaints from European buyers and were investigating how widespread the defaulting might be.
Meles said he had not previously been aware of the claims but that he would investigate them.
“If indeed our companies are improperly defaulting on their contracts, then the government has a responsibility to enforce the law and see that contracts are implemented or the necessary penalties are substituted,” Meles told reporters.
Ethiopia is Africa’s biggest exporter of coffee.
The ministry of trade this week told Reuters the country earned $528 million from exports of the bean in the 2009/2010 season, rebounding from a poor $375.8 million in 2008/2009. Coffee contributes more than a quarter of foreign earnings.
Meles has personally intervened in the coffee export market before, last year privately meeting with industry players and threatening to “cut off their hands” if they did not release stocks they were hoarding in the hope of better prices.
The government then seized 17,000 tonnes of the bean and revoked the licences of six major exporters it accused of holding stock back.
“I can understand why there may be a rash of defaults given the (U.S. futures price),” Meles said. “The contracts might have been based on lower prices. But that is not a legitimate reason to default.”
Ethiopia prides itself as the birthplace of coffee. Some 15 million smallholder farmers grow the crop, mostly in the forested highlands in the huge country’s west and southwest.
The Ethiopian government predicts growth of about 10 percent for 2010/2011. The International Monetary Fund says the economy will grow by 7 percent.
The Coffee Review, an international guide to specialty coffee, recently gave Coffea Roasterie’s Ethiopia Nekisse a top review.
The medium roast coffee received a score of 96 out of 100 points from Kenneth Davids, co-founder of the Coffee Review.
The score is the highest of the year so far, according to Coffea co-owner Jenna Aukerman. Co-owner Jon Brudvig roasted the Nekisse.
“He used a certain roast profile to let the Ethiopia shine,” Aukerman said.
Coffea, 2318 S. Louise Ave., submitted their roasted version of the Nekisse bean. Ethiopia Nekisse is grown in the Sidamo region of southern Ethiopia.
“For those willing to spend nearly forty dollars for twelve ounces of coffee, (Nekisse is) an opportunity to experience an almost perfect example of the tricky-to-produce dried-in-the-fruit type, grand but seductive,” Davids wrote in the August review.
Ethiopian Nekisse is $37.95 for a 12-ounce bag, $8.50 for a French press – which makes two 12-ounce cups – and $5 for a double shot of espresso at Coffea.
