International Trade
Coffee is produced in over 60 countries, in the area known as the “Coffee belt” which is located between the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer. Each year, the EU imports over 3 million tons of green coffee from the different coffee origins.
Most of the coffee imported in 2019 originated from Brazil (980 262 tonnes) and Vietnam (725 525 tonnes). They were followed by Honduras (235 088 tonnes), Colombia (180 227 tonnes, Uganda (146 009 tonnes), India (139 688 tonnes), Peru (119 799 tonnes) and Ethiopia (83 722 tonnes).
The five main EU importers of coffee in 2019 were Germany (1.1 million tonnes) and Italy (603 983 tonnes), followed by Belgium (301 454 tonnes), Spain (270 108 tonnes), and France (233 600 tonnes).
EU green coffee imports in 2019
| Origin country | Volume in 100 kg | |
| BRAZIL | 9.802.621 | 32,17% |
| VIETNAM | 7.255.251 | 23,81% |
| HONDURAS | 2.350.887 | 7,72% |
| COLOMBIA | 1.802.271 | 5,91% |
| UGANDA | 1.460.996 | 4,79% |
| INDIA | 1.396.883 | 4,58% |
| PERU | 1.197.995 | 3,93% |
| INDONESIA | 856.148 | 2,81% |
| ETHIOPIA | 837.222 | 2,75% |
| Others | 626.093 | 2,05% |
| NICARAGUA | 441.671 | 1,45% |
| GUATEMALA | 371.731 | 1,22% |
| MEXICO | 322.129 | 1,06% |
| TANZANIA | 306.879 | 1,01% |
| CHINA | 308.242 | 1,01% |
| COTE D’IVOIRE | 256.170 | 0,84% |
| KENYA | 249.368 | 0,82% |
| PAPUA NEW GUINEA | 249.751 | 0,82% |
| COSTA RICA | 132.356 | 0,43% |
| BURUNDI | 132.157 | 0,43% |
| EL SALVADOR | 114.624 | 0,38% |
| TOTAL | 30.471.445 | 100% |
Source: Eurostat
Read more about coffee trade in our latest European Coffee Report here :
Promoting coffee trade
The European Coffee Federation promotes the value of the coffee trade to the EU policy- and decision-makers and ensures that appropriate EU policies are adopted to increase the EU import capabilities, especially considering that coffee cannot be grown in the EU. ECF also informs origin countries about the latest EU policy developments and establishes solid links with them in order to coordinate the efforts towards guaranteeing sustainable imports of coffee into the European Union.
Green coffee stocks in Europe
ECF has built ties with major coffee carrying shipping lines and European ports in order to ensure smooth logistics operations and minimize speculations in the coffee trade.
Green coffee stocks in the major coffee ports of Europe
ECF Best Shipping Line of the Year award
Since 2018, ECF has been evaluating shipping line performance and awarding the best performer with the ECF Best Shipping Line of the Year award.
The award is granted based on the results of the ECF survey for shipping line performance that is distributed amongst the members of the ECF Logistics Committee. Amongst others, the following aspects are taken into consideration: schedule, frequency, transit time performance, availability of suitable containers and vessel space, booking acceptance, timely release of container at destination or customer service.
For two consecutive years, ECF members have recognized Hapag-Lloyd as the best shipping line of the year.
European Standard Contract for Coffee
The trade in green coffee is facilitated if a shipment is bought and sold under the same conditions of sale. ECF provides a common contract – that is well established in the sector – to simplify the procedure and avoid misunderstandings. The ECF European Standard Contract for Coffee (ESCC) facilitates a common framework to enable an agreement between two parties, creating a legal obligation for both to perform specific acts.
European Standard Contract for Coffee (ESCC)