Ethiopia Sesame Seeds: A Growing Market but Ongoing Civil War May Dampen Growth Efforts

Ethiopia has long been a major producer of sesame seeds on the African continent, and the oilseed continues to be a major commercial crop in the country. It is also one of the most widely produced oilseed crops, representing 30 percent of Ethiopia’s oilseed production. In terms of foreign income, sesame exports give Ethiopia about $450 million annually. To buttress the point, the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange earlier in the year disclosed that the country earned roughly $30 billion from the exports of coffee, sesame seeds, and spices. The importance of sesame seeds to the Ethiopian economy cannot thus be overemphasized.

Mostly cropped in northern and north-western Ethiopia, in the areas bordering Sudan and Eritrea, it is a leading foreign exchange earner for the country and provides income for many smallholder farmers. According to data provided by Ethiopia’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, 43% of production emanates from the Amhara region with 33% coming from Oromia. Benshangul-Gumuz, SNNP, and Gambela produce 12% of the national production total. Varieties of sesame seeds grown in Ethiopia are noted to be creamy, juicy, and of high quality, making them sought after by buyers ranging from domestic consumers and those that can be exported to large consumer markets such as China and India.

Over the last few years, Ethiopian farmers and exporters have been working harder to push further into the Chinese market and take a share in its insatiable demand. That drive seems to have been yielding results to a certain extent as from 2018 to 2021, over 283 thousand mt of sesame seeds have been exported to the Chinese market. In the 2019/20 crop year, Ethiopia’s sesame production according to the USDA came up to 280 thousand mt but alarmingly fell 5000 mt to 255 thousand mt the following crop year. On the other hand, production of other oilseeds viz Niger seed and Soybeans grew by 1.7% and 13.6% to 300 thousand mt and 150 thousand mt respectively in 2021.

The loss in sesame seeds crop output has arisen from the fall in acreage planted and a switch to alternative food crops. Many farmers have surprisingly switched to planting sorghum, sunflower and soy according to reports from many quarters.

The elephant in the room however, or the albatross has been the civil war. A great deal of sesame seeds production is cultivated in the Tigray region and Gondar areas north of lake Tana. These areas have seen significant escalation of the conflict making it near impossible to till the land and even those who have, some have had to abandon their farms and flee. About 500 thousand hectares of sesame fields, a whopping 70% of annual acreage was not tilled in the last crop season on the back of the conflict. Production is likely to push further down as the conflict and tensions in the region intensify.

The gains made by Ethiopia in trying to expand its production and penetrate the Chinese markets may be on a sudden decline. This, however, may be a gain for other producing countries in the East and the Horn of African region. Tridge’s Fulfillment Manager in Tanzania has already stated that “the ongoing civil war situation in Ethiopia may cause an upward shift in demand for Ugandan Sesame Seed this year,” because Chinese buyers “have demonstrated aggressive buying behaviours in other fellow African countries such as Tanzania and Mozambique this year”.

Balkew Gelashet, another Tridge Fulfillment Manager in Ethiopia, recently shared a report which highlights the performance of Ethiopian sesame seeds trade over the last 11 months. While the numbers in the reports look positive, it's downplayed by that fact that some suppliers in Ethiopia are inactivating licenses for this season which might result in a fall of this year's exports.