As Ethiopia embarks on a major revamp of its coffee production and exportation, China's fast-growing coffee market has become a major destination for Ethiopian coffee producers and exporters.

The Ethiopian government has unveiled a new national initiative on establishing a national umbrella coffee brand to boost the country's share of coffee export in the international market amid growing demand, especially with the country's specialty coffee which Chinese consumers craze for.

The new national initiative, dubbed "Ethiopian Coffee," mainly aims to spur the acceptance of Ethiopia's coffee in the global market, the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority (ECTA) said while announcing the grand plan on August 6.

The ECTA, which has been developing the new umbrella Ethiopian coffee brand, also said that the new government-led initiative would enhance the current "weak international presence and image" of Ethiopia's major coffee varieties, such as Yirgacheffe, Harrar, and Sidamo coffee.

ECTA director-general Adugna Debella has noted the new brand of Ethiopian Coffee should have "paramount importance for developing the coffee sector," and also stressed that the new initiative would help the East African country to decide and negotiate the price of coffee in the international market.

As Ethiopia embarked on a major revamp of its coffee production and export endeavor, China's fast-growing coffee market has become a major destination for Ethiopian coffee producers and exporters, Debella told Xinhua in a recent interview.

According to the ECTA chief, the new initiative is part of Ethiopia's ambition that envisages uplifting the current close to 600,000 tonnes of annual coffee production to as more as 1.8 million tonnes within the coming five years.

According to the ECTA, at the heart of this huge production boost is the growing demand in China for Ethiopia's unique coffee beans.

Ethiopia's ambition to penetrate the emerging Chinese coffee market is mainly attributed to the increasing demand for coffee among China's young population in recent years, the ECTA noted.

The huge interest has also become a major priority among Ethiopian coffee producers and exporters.

Alfoz Plc -- one of the leading Ethiopian companies engaged in specialty coffee harvesting, processing and exporting -- recently disclosed its ambition to boost its export presence in China.

"Presently, Middle Eastern countries are the prime export destinations for our coffee market," Yohanes Addis, Alfoz Plc's Sales and Marketing Manager, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"As the interest from China for coffee in general and Ethiopian produced coffee, in particular, increased over the past few years, we are also looking for opportunities on how to better penetrate the market there in China," Addis said.

Ethiopia is one of Africa's largest producers of Arabica coffee beans. Coffee production is dubbed as the backbone of the country's agriculture-led economy.

The East African country, during the just-concluded Ethiopian fiscal year that ended on July 7, has generated more than 1.2 billion U.S. dollars in revenue from the exports of coffee as well as oilseeds products, according to figures from the Ethiopian government.

China is already Ethiopia's major export destination. Ethiopia, during the previous Ethiopian 2017-2018 fiscal year, has exported 245 million U.S. dollars worth of goods to China, according to the Ethiopian Ministry of Trade.

Wondimu Filate, head of Public Relations and Communication Affairs Office at the ministry, told Xinhua that Ethiopia's exports to China have steadily increased with the help of bilateral and multilateral ties, which include the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.