International sales of coffee imports in 2020 totaled US$31 billion, resulting in coffee ranking as the world’s most valuable imported hot beverage. The annual value of globally imported coffee increased 2.1% over the 5-year period starting in 2016.

From 2019 to 2020, the dollar amount spent on imported coffee flatlined thanks to a modest 0.3% annual gain.

The 5 most lucrative global consumer markets for selling imported coffee approached almost one half (47.7%) of all imported brew sales during 2020. The highest cashflows were generated by buyers in: United States (18.3% of worldwide total), Germany (11.4%), France (9.3%), Italy (4.9%) and Canada (3.9%).

Among these 5 leading markets, the highest year-over-year buying increase was the 9.4% acceleration from importers in Germany ahead of France (up 5.5%) and Canada (up 0.8%).

In many jurisdictions, coffee can be easily purchased beverage item at mammoth international grocery chains to tiny mom-and-pop corner stores. Coffee is unsurprisingly considered a convenience product for consumers.

Besides being a drink of choice for late-night students needing a boost and home-based business owners who want to ensure their faculties are sharp early in the morning, coffee also has a reputation as a one-on-one mood setter for intimate dating and even job interviewing.

By comparing changes in consumer demand for imported coffee by country, we can uncover the most attractive opportunities for selling coffee and related products and services on international markets.

Coffee Is A Consumer Shopping Product

Coffee satisfies the criteria of a consumer good (also called an end product) created for consumers to buy in its final form for drinking or in some cases as a dessert ingredient. In contrast, products like turbojets are usually purchased by companies or government entities rather than individuals.

Economists classify coffee as a convenience product, a technical classification for goods that are easily accessed and frequently purchased. In addition to grocery shopping, consumers often buy coffee on daily, weekly or monthly trips often to multinational chains like Starbucks, Tim Hortons or McDonalds.

Like most dry goods, there is no firm expiration date for packaged coffee. However, both the taste and freshness of can deteriorate so pay attention to any best before dates on the packaging.

Whole bean coffee should be used within 3 or 4 weeks of when the beans are ground. Once a jar of instant coffee is opened, try to finish it within 2 weeks of first opening.

A brewed cup of coffee should be consumed within the same day if kept at room temperature, or up to 4 days if stored in the refrigerator.

Decaffeinated coffee accounts for just 4.3% of the overall total for coffee imported in 2020. International purchases of decaffeinated coffee dropped by -2% from 2019 to 2020, compared to a 5% annual increase for roasted caffeinated coffee. Please note that this article presents overall data encompassing both caffeinated and decaffeinated types of coffee.

Searchable List: Coffee Imports by Country

The pre-sorted list below showcases marketing intelligence for the top 100 buyers of coffee, ranked in descending order starting with the greatest annual sales amount at the 4-digit Harmonized System (HS) code level. For coffee, the HS code prefix is 0901.

Also shown is the percentage change in international coffee purchases from 2019 to 2020

United States: US$5,677,018,000 (down -2.8% from 2019)
Germany: $3,537,125,000 (up 9.4%)
France: $2,882,007,000 (up 5.5%)
Italy: $1,500,827,000 (down -7.5%)
Canada: $1,206,147,000 (up 0.8%)
Netherlands: $1,190,863,000 (up 2.9%)
Japan: $1,179,263,000 (down -5.5%)
Belgium: $1,125,587,000 (up 5.3%)
Spain: $1,013,513,000 (up 6.3%)
United Kingdom: $1,001,402,000 (down -5.3%)
Switzerland: $855,386,000 (up 14%)
South Korea: $737,803,000 (up 11.5%)
Russia: $651,688,000 (up 3.2%)
Poland: $648,535,000 (up 12.2%)
Australia: $473,644,000 (up 5.9%)
Austria: $415,053,000 (down -3.6%)
Sweden: $413,477,000 (up 3%)
China: $313,049,000 (up 15.9%)
Saudi Arabia: $281,404,000 (up 13.7%)
Romania: $270,012,000 (up 11.3%)
Czech Republic: $267,452,000 (down -4.1%)
Finland: $261,222,000 (down -8.9%)
Portugal: $251,410,000 (down -4.2%)
Malaysia: $250,371,000 (down -8.6%)
Greece: $232,364,000 (down -1.6%)
Turkey: $202,873,000 (down -1.8%)
Taiwan: $200,904,000 (up 11.1%)
Norway: $192,478,000 (up 15.3%)
Denmark: $170,653,000 (up 1%)
Ukraine: $166,313,000 (up 15.3%)
Israel: $139,715,000 (up 9.5%)
Lithuania: $133,512,000 (up 6.6%)
Slovakia: $132,824,000 (down -13%)
Bulgaria: $131,508,000 (up 9.3%)
Thailand: $128,863,000 (up 19.5%)
Egypt: $115,520,000 (down -6.3%)
Luxembourg: $115,179,000 (down -11%)
Sudan: $114,639,000 (up 35.3%)
Hungary: $110,294,000 (down -4.8%)
Ireland: $108,920,000 (down -7.1%)
India: $107,733,000 (down -9.6%)
Morocco: $101,625,000 (down -0.9%)
Colombia: $101,024,000 (up 38.3%)
United Arab Emirates: $95,816,000 (down -13.7%)
Jordan: $82,914,000 (down -5.5%)
Philippines: $81,128,000 (up 11%)
South Africa: $77,466,000 (down -2.7%)
New Zealand: $75,069,000 (up 5.5%)
Serbia: $71,786,000 (down -2.1%)
Croatia: $71,761,000 (down -1.2%)
Argentina: $70,439,000 (down -11.1%)
Slovenia: $70,338,000 (down -8.5%)
Latvia: $66,959,000 (up 6.1%)
Mexico: $65,420,000 (down -43.8%)
Brazil: $64,102,000 (down -13.2%)
Singapore: $60,889,000 (down -19.8%)
Belarus: $51,022,000 (up 10.9%)
Syrian Arab Republic: $49,229,000 (down -6.8%)
Bosnia/Herzegovina: $46,092,000 (down -9.5%)
Chile: $45,662,000 (down -21.7%)
Estonia: $42,150,000 (up 19.1%)
Algeria: $41,586,000 (down -79.4%)
Kuwait: $40,616,000 (down -8.9%)
Hong Kong: $40,367,000 (down -18.3%)
Indonesia: $38,280,000 (down -42.2%)
Lebanon: $37,283,000 (down -52.6%)
Libya: $33,621,000 (up 5.5%)
Vietnam: $33,169,000 (down -50.5%)
Albania: $24,576,000 (down -2.1%)
Armenia: $22,554,000 (down -8.2%)
Costa Rica: $22,442,000 (down -10.4%)
North Macedonia: $21,961,000 (down -10.1%)
Tunisia: $21,200,000 (down -61.5%)
Iceland: $21,000,000 (up 4.6%)
Cyprus: $20,016,000 (down -20.8%)
Georgia: $15,592,000 (down -10.1%)
Qatar: $15,252,000 (down -28%)
Venezuela: $15,211,000 (up 183%)
Uganda: $14,553,000 (up 27.1%)
Dominican Republic: $13,386,000 (down -64.7%)
Iran: $11,355,000 (down -44.1%)
Ecuador: $10,120,000 (up 337.9%)
Kazakhstan: $9,119,000 (down -10%)
Moldova: $8,706,000 (up 9.4%)
Cuba: $8,101,000 (down -26%)
Montenegro: $7,881,000 (down -18.7%)
Panama: $7,783,000 (down -25.1%)
Oman: $7,427,000 (down -41.7%)
Namibia: $6,437,000 (down -26.9%)
Macao: $5,857,000 (down -33%)
Botswana: $5,486,000 (up 6.5%)
Uruguay: $5,087,000 (down -4.3%)
Malta: $5,040,000 (down -11.5%)
Andorra: $4,942,000 (down -22.3%)
Nigeria: $4,699,000 (up 21.2%)
Senegal: $4,654,000 (up 24.5%)
El Salvador: $4,233,000 (up 36.2%)
Bahrain: $4,203,000 (down -38.2%)
New Caledonia: $4,178,000 (down -2.6%)
Greenland: $3,888,000 (down -3.4%)

Among the above 100 global markets, 40 countries increased their spending on imported coffee. The 6 strongest percentage gains year over year were posted by Ecuador (up 337.9%), Venezuela (up 183%), Colombia (up 38.3%), El Salvador (up 36.2%), Sudan (up 35.3%) and Uganda (up 27.1%).

Leading the 60 decliners year over year was Algeria via a -79.4% drop. Significant reductions in coffee imports by value were also experienced by the Dominican Republic (down -64.7%), Tunisia (down -61.5%), Lebanon (down -52.6%), Vietnam (down -50.5%), Iran (down -44.1%) and Mexico (down -43.8%).

Richest Global Markets for Imported Coffee

Illustrated below is the market demand for coffee imported during 2020 by 30 of world’s richest countries in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per person, according to RichestCountryReports.com.

Countries are listed in descending order starting with the wealthiest economy in terms of GDP per capita.

Luxembourg: $115.2 million (Down -11%)
Singapore: $60.9 million (Down -19.8%)
Ireland: $108.9 million (Down -7.1%)
Qatar: $15.3 million (Down -28%)
Macao: $5.9 million (Down -33%)
Switzerland: $855.4 million (Up 14%)
Norway: $192.5 million (Up 15.3%)
United States: $5.7 billion (Down -2.8%)
Brunei Darussalam: $884,000 million (Up 20.3%)
Hong Kong: $40.4 million (Down -18.3%)
Denmark: $170.7 million (Up 1%)
Netherlands: $1.2 billion (Up 2.9%)
United Arab Emirates: $95.8 million (Down -13.7%)
Taiwan: $200.9 million (Up 11.1%)
Iceland: $21 million (Up 4.6%)
Austria: $415.1 million (Down -3.6%)
Germany: $3.5 billion (Up 9.4%)
Sweden: $413.5 million (Up 3%)
Australia: $473.6 million (Up 5.9%)
Belgium: $1.1 billion (Up 5.3%)
Finland: $261.2 million (Down -8.9%)
Canada: $1.2 billion (Up 0.8%)
Bahrain: $4.2 million (Down -38.2%)
France: $2.9 billion (Up 5.5%)
Saudi Arabia: $281.4 million (Up 13.7%)
United Kingdom: $1 billion (Down -5.3%)
South Korea: $737.8 million (Up 11.5%)
Malta: $5 million (Down -11.5%)
Japan: $1.2 billion (Down -5.5%)
New Zealand: $75.1 million (Up 5.5%)

Fifteen among the above richest economies spent more on imported coffee in 2020 compared to 2019. The top gainers were Brunei Darussalam (up 20.3%), Norway (up 15.3%), Switzerland (up 14%), Saudi Arabia (up 13.7%), South Korea (up 11.5%) and Taiwan (up 11.1%).

Registering double-digit annual declines were 8 relatively wealthy importing nations. These loss-leaders were Bahrain (down -38.2%), Macao (down -33%), Qatar (down -28%), Singapore (down -19.8%), Hong Kong (down -18.3%), United Arab Emirates (down -13.7%), Malta (down -11.5%) and, the world’s richest country per capita, Luxembourg (down -11%).

Top Coffee Importers by Ton

Shifting the focus to product quantity instead of dollar value, the United States imported an estimated 1.5 million tons of coffee in 2020.

The latest annual cubic meters score for coffee imported into America represents a -10% drop from the 1.7 million tons of imported coffee bought in 2019 from international suppliers.

Like the United States, the following 9 countries also measure imported coffee quantities in tons.

Germany: 1.2 million tons of coffee in 2020 (down -0.6% from 2019)
Italy 588,147 tons (down -7.8%)
Japan: 398,991 tons (down -10.1%)
France: 385,757 tons (down -5.3%)
Belgium: 352,532 tons (up 1.2%)
Spain: 344,267 tons (up 2.2%)
Netherlands: 261,149 tons (down -5.5%)
Canada: 256,599 (down -7.5%)

Only 2 of these markets increased quantities of coffee bought on international markets from 2019 to 2020, namely European nations Spain and Belgium.

US Demand for Imported Coffee

In 2020, the United States of America placed number 1 among the world’s biggest market for imported coffee as measured by total sales in US dollars.

America’s top 5 coffee suppliers (Colombia, Brazil, Switzerland, Canada, Guatemala) accounted for 59.5% of US purchases of coffee from international markets.

The following 15 countries benefited the most from selling imported coffee into the United States in 2020.

Colombia: US$1.14 billion (20.1% of US total)
Brazil: $1.09 billion (19.1%)
Switzerland: $460.6 million (8.1%)
Canada: $378.5 million (6.7%)
Guatemala: $309.3 million (5.4%)
Vietnam: $294.4 million (5.2%)
Nicaragua: $248.7 million (4.4%)
Honduras: $243.7 million (4.3%)
Indonesia: $239.9 million (4.2%)
Peru: $221.2 million (3.9%)
Mexico: $207.5 million (3.7%)
Costa Rica: $176.7 million (3.1%)
Ethiopia: $134 million (2.4%)
Italy: $96.8 million (1.7%)
Germany: $76.9 million (1.4%)

The above international providers sold 93.7% of the $5.7 billion worth of imported coffee delivered to the United States during 2020.

Year over year, 5 international coffee suppliers realized higher revenues in 2020 compared to coffee shipped to American buyers one year earlier. These were exporters in Switzerland (up 25.4%), Costa Rica (up 18.1%), Mexico (up 5%), Brazil (up 1.4%) and Ethiopia (up 0.6%).

There are 4 American states for which caffeinated coffee ranks among their top 25 imported commodities: Lousiana ($693.3 million worth of coffee imports in 2020), South Carolina ($429.3 million), Washington ($288.4 million) and Maryland ($281.5 million).

Unit Costs by Key US Coffee Suppliers

The United States of America paid a wide range of unit costs per ton of imported coffee in 2020, depending on the coffee shipper’s country of origin.

Below, you will find the average unit price that American importers paid for 15 of the top coffee suppliers to the US in 2020. They are presented in descending order starting with the nations that supplied the highest total dollar value worth of coffee.

Colombia: US$3,849 per ton (up 11.3% from 2019)
Brazil: $2,413 per ton (up 4.1%)
Switzerland: $39,086 per ton (up 10%)
Canada: $8,823 per ton (up 4.3%)
Guatemala: $4,352 per ton (up 12.8%)
Vietnam: $1,858 per ton (up 6.9%)
Nicaragua: $3,454 per ton (up 11.1%)
Honduras: $3,354 per ton (up 17%)
Indonesia: $4,362 per ton (down -12.5%)
Peru: $3,851 per ton (up 9.6%)
Mexico: $3,470 per ton (up 6.6%)
Costa Rica: $5,047 per ton (up 3.4%)
Ethiopia: $5,464 per ton (up 5.9%)
Italy: $8,413 per ton (down -11.2%)
Germany: $3,254 per ton (up 4.1%)

The lowest unit costs per ton of coffee imported into the United States belong to Vietnam ($1,858) and Brazil ($2,413).

In contrast, America pays a premium unit price per ton of coffee ($39,086) to suppliers in Switzerland.

World’s Biggest Coffee Companies

Below you will find the top 5 largest multinationals that sell coffee both domestically and on international markets.

The list was ranked in descending order based on the highest company revenues in 2019 according to Food Digital. Please note that those revenues include cashflows from other product lines beyond coffee.

Starbucks (Seattle, US): US$22.4 billion
Tim Hortons (Toronto, Canada): $6.7 billion
Panera Bread (Sunset Hills, US): $5.9 billion
Lavazza (Turin, Italy): $3.1 billion
Costa Coffee (Dunstable, UK): $1.9 billion

Shown within brackets is the city which serves as the global headquarters for each coffee-producing conglomerate.

References

Independent insights and analysis presented in this article are based on researched facts and statistics sourced from the following educational portals.

Atlas Coffee Club, How Long Does Coffee Last? How to Store Coffee to Preserve Freshness

BoyceWire, Consumer Goods Definition.

Food Digital, Top 10 Coffee Companies in the World.

Forbes, The Forbes Global 2000 List.

International Trade Centre, Trade Map.

Investopedia, Consumer Goods, Consumer Staples Definition, Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG).

Richest Country Reports, Top 50 Richest Countries by GDP per Capita.

United States Census Bureau, Foreign Trade State Data.

USITC DataWeb, US Merchandise Trade: Imports for Consumption.

Wikipedia, Coffee.

World’s Top Exports, Coffee Exports by Country.