Deception and default in a global marketplace: the political economy of livestock export trade in Ethiopia

Abstract

ABSTRACT During 2014–2019, cattle exports from Ethiopia declined more than 95 percent. This trade depends largely on Borana pastoralists of southern Ethiopia and a credit system of deferred payments. The article asks: How did the deferred payment system contribute to the collapse of the trade? It argues that credit defaults ripple through the entire value chain and help to explain the export collapse. By examining how the circulation of credit and debt in the cattle export business disadvantages pastoralists and local traders, the article demonstrates how a once booming trade was undermined by its own contradictory processes and unequal relationships.