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By Jason McLure

Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The coffee harvest in Ethiopia, Africa’s biggest producer of the crop, was at least 25 percent higher than a year earlier, Ethiopia Commodity Exchange Chief Executive Officer Eleni Gabre-Madhin told reporters today in the capital, Addis Ababa.

She didn’t say what quantity of coffee was harvested during the season, which runs from October through December.

Volumes of specialty washed coffee traded on the exchange more than doubled last month to 2,173 metric tons, compared with a year earlier, because of the introduction of a new quality- certification system, improved support to farmers from government agents and greater use of the exchange by traders, she said.

Ethiopian farmers can expect better prices this year because of higher global coffee prices and improved quality, she said.

The exchange will open a new market Feb. 17 for specialty buyers that wish to buy directly from specific farmers and cooperatives. Coffee sold on the exchange’s current trading floor is identified only by region and grade.

Colorado-based Allegro Coffee Co., a supplier for Whole Foods Inc., Portland, Oregon-based Stumptown Coffee, and Switzerland-based Schluter SA are among the importers who have registered for the direct market, she said.

“Now there is an incentive for people to do the post- production processing more carefully,” Eleni said.

Coffee exports from Ethiopia fell to a six-year low in the year to July 7 after drought and disease cut shipments to 133,993 tons from 170,888 tons a year earlier. Ethiopia consumes about half the coffee it produces.