ADDIS ABABA, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Coffee exports have brought Ethiopia 835 million U.S. dollars in revenue over the past nine months, an industry institution said Tuesday.

The East African country exported 174,596 tons of coffee to the international market during the first nine months of the current Ethiopian 2023/24 fiscal year that started on July 8, the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority (ECTA) said.

In addition to the traditional Ethiopian coffee importing countries, the Ethiopian government has been able to create new markets in recent years, state-run Ethiopian Press Agency quoted Shafi Oumer, ECTA deputy director-general, as saying.

Data from ECTA show that China, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan are among the countries that are becoming top destinations of Ethiopian coffee. Saudi Arabia, South Korea, the United States, Germany and Japan are the major destinations of Ethiopia's coffee exports over the years.

Regarded as the origin of Arabica coffee, Ethiopia is one of Africa's largest producers and exporters of coffee. Coffee production is dubbed as the backbone of the country's agriculture-led economy. Widely recognized for its rich coffee quality and flavor ranging from winy to fruity and chocolatey, the country's coffee is in great demand across the globe.

During the previous Ethiopian 2022/23 fiscal year, the country earned 1.3 billion dollars in revenue from the export of around 240,000 tons of coffee. The export revenue, however, marked a notable decrease as compared with the previous fiscal year, when the country posted a record-high revenue of 1.4 billion dollars from the export of about 300,000 tons of coffee.

Experts often attribute the lack of value addition to Ethiopia's coffee sector as a major bottleneck that hinders the country from fully benefiting from its rich coffee resources, as it mainly exports raw coffee beans to the international market.