Nov. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Ethiopia, Africa’s biggest coffee producer, has halted daily auctions and will begin trading the beans on the national commodity bourse from Dec. 2 to reduce fraud and help reassure buyers of quality.

Under a coffee law passed in August, the country is seeking to regulate an industry that employs 1.2 million growers and accounts for 35 percent of export earnings. While Ethiopia, on the Horn of Africa, shipped $525 million of coffee abroad last year, its beans aren’t used in setting benchmark international prices because of inconsistent quality, Gabre-Madhin said.

The Ethiopia Commodity Exchange, which began trading corn and wheat this year, opened eight warehouses in growing areas and will take control of the country’s grading and quality control system. Traders other than large growers and co-operatives that sell directly to international buyers will be forced to use the bourse, exchange director Eleni Gabre-Madhin said today.