The Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX) is a commodities exchange established April 2008 in Ethiopia. In Proclamation 2007-550, which created the ECX, its stated objective was "to ensure the development of an efficient modern trading system" that would "protect the rights and benefits of sellers, buyers, intermediaries, and the general public."[1]
The ECX is set up as a private company owned by a partnership of the market actors, members of the exchange, and the Ethiopian government, led by Eleni Gebre Medhin a former economist for the International Food Policy Research Institute and the World Bank. As of July 2011, the physical presence of the ECX consists of 55 warehouses in 17 regional locations. It has grown from trading 138,000 tons in its first year to 508,000 tons in its third year, with nearly equal shares of coffee and oilseeds and pulses. The value of the ECX rose 368% between 2010 and 2011 to reach US$1.1 billion.[2] As of November 2010, the trading floor in Addis Ababa handled 200 spot contracts in commodities such as coffee, sesame, navy beans, maize and wheat.[3] It was assessed in July 2011 that membership equaled 243 with clients, who trade through members, about 7,800.