Figures and facts about coffee production, trade and consumption

In 2019, more than 10 million tons of coffee were produced. That equates to 1000 billion cups of coffee! Coffee production has almost doubled over the last 25 years. Brazil is by far the largest coffee producer, accounting for approximately 37% of global production in 2019, followed by Vietnam (18%), Colombia (8%), Indonesia (5%) and Ethiopia (5%). In addition, there is coffee production in a large number of other countries, mainly in Africa, South and Central America, as well as in parts of Asia.

It is different with the consumption of coffee. More than 75% of all coffee produced is imported and used in non-producing countries. The United States is the country with the largest imports of coffee (22% of all coffee imports), while EU countries account for 65% of total coffee imports.

Economically, coffee is one of the largest crops in the world, and represents a market value of more than a staggering 900 billion kroner annually. But the values in the coffee industry are not evenly distributed - and unfortunately for a number of years it has gone in the wrong direction. This is related to the price development, which over the last 10 years has developed to the detriment of both coffee farmers and consumers.

There are big differences in what the coffee farmers get paid for their crops when they are bought up to be exported. On average, a coffee farmer received 2.4 dollars per kilo of raw coffee in 2019 (or about 15 Danish kroner). That's 26% less than what he got for a kilo of raw coffee in 2010.

Consumers also pay very different prices when they buy coffee - depending on the country, method of production, etc. On average, the consumer paid $ 12.8 per kilogram of coffee in 2019 - a price that has increased by 9% since 2010.

In other words, the consumer pays 5.3 times as much as the coffee farmer gets out of it in 2019 - in 2010 he paid only 3.6 times as much. So the huge and growing inequality in the global coffee value chain favors the middlemen (wholesalers, roasteries, and retailers) at the expense of the coffee farmers and the consumers.