Ethiopia, whose export trade is heavily reliant on raw agricultural commodities and minerals, aims to increase its income from manufactured goods export to one billion USD next year.
This is indicated by the Minister of Industry Melaku Alebel, who spoke at a discussion is currently being held with manufacturers that recorded strong export performance during the 2018 fiscal year. The east African country has secured $607 million from manufactured goods exports during the Ethiopian fiscal year ended July 7, 2026.
Minister Melaku Alebel stated that since the launch of the “Made in Ethiopia” movement, the country has made significant progress in substituting imported products with locally manufactured goods and increasing foreign exchange earnings. He noted that before the initiative began, annual foreign exchange earnings from manufactured exports stood at US$385 million, but have now increased to US$607 million.
The minister said the government’s strong focus on the manufacturing sector has brought about fundamental improvements and positive changes. Looking ahead to the 2019 Ethiopian fiscal year, the government has set a target of generating US$1 billion in revenue from manufactured goods exports.
He also highlighted that annual employment created by the manufacturing sector has increased from less than 162,000 jobs to more than 433,000 jobs. To further expand manufacturing exports and improve foreign exchange earnings, the minister added that the government has prepared a comprehensive export trade strategy to support the sector.
Ethiopia’s manufactured goods exports showed modest upward progress over the past five years, contributing to a record $10.7 billion total national export high in the 2025/2026 fiscal year. Driven by the “Made in Ethiopia” campaign, industrial capacity utilization rose from 46% to 66.3%, while electrical machinery and equipment exports scaled to over $450 million annually.
Concurrently, aggressive domestic industrialization executed $14.5 billion in import substitutions over four years, conserving critical foreign reserves and anchoring localized production lines. However, severe structural bottlenecks restrict global competitiveness, as agricultural coffee and gold still occupy nearly 80% of total export values.
This profound commodity concentration leaves the sector vulnerable to shifting international primary price cycles. Internally, manufacturers face high regional logistics costs, policy hurdles, and restricted foreign exchange (FX) access. Furthermore, key industrial zones like Hawassa and Bole Lemi continue to operate beneath full global target integrations due to infrastructural gaps and regional security realities.
The sector’s future prospects remain cautiously optimistic, anchored by sweeping macroeconomic overhauls and regional integration. Central bank liberalizations—supported by IMF Extended Credit Facility programs—aim to deepen the formal FX market and lower transaction boundaries for private manufacturing investments.
Additionally, emerging corridors like niche defense shipments to six African nations hint at a more diversified footprint. Success rests on pivoting from low-complexity commodities into advanced processing fields like tech assemblies to fuel resilient GDP expansion.
