By George Mwangi

Special to Dow Jones Newswires

Ethiopia earned $800 million from coffee exports in 2020, accounting for more than 25% of its total exports, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said late Monday.

"These funds play an important role in the economy because the Ethiopian birr is not a convertible currency and U.S. dollars are needed for transactions related to imports and other foreign debt obligations," the USDA said in its coffee world markets and trade report for June.

The report didn't have Ethiopia's coffee exports dollar estimate for the current year, Tony Halstead, a USDA global commodity analyst, said.

Ethiopia's coffee output is forecast at 7.6 million 60-kilogram bags in the marketing year beginning October 2021 to September 2022, according to the USDA report.

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06-22-21 0937ET