Coffee exports from India surpass Govt target for 3rd year in a row

For the third consecutive year, India’s coffee exports have exceeded government targets, driven by rising prices, global demand and growing domestic production. For FY25, India’s coffee shipments crossed $1.816 billion, registering a 46 per cent increase over previous year’s $1.286 billion. In volume terms, coffee exports were up 1.56 per cent at 3.89 lakh tonnes (lt), based on the permits issued by the Board. In fact, coffee exports have more than doubled over the past five years since 2020-21, when shipments were $735 million.

KG Jagadeesha, CEO and Secretary, Coffee Board, said, “Factors such as increasing global prices due to supply disruption in Brazil and Vietnam, and the rising consumption post-Covid have helped the growth in shipments. Also, over the past 3-4 years, India’s coffee production has consistently been over 3.5 lt — up from 3.2-3.3 lt earlier, which has helped the exports, he said. “We have started exporting more and more value added coffees. The percentage of premium coffees out of our total green coffees has also increased, which has led to record exports,” Jagadeesha said. European countries such as Italy, Germany, Belgium and Russia are among the major destinations for the Indian coffees. Demand for Indian coffees continues to be strong even as the global supplies remain tight. “Many of the countries, which are dependent on Vietnam and Brazil, want to diversify their basket. They see India as an important country in terms of diversifying their procurement basket as a result, there’s growing interest in the Indian coffees. We need to produce more, if we want to match the demand,” Jagadeesha said.

In rupee terms, the exports during 2024-25 stood at a record ₹15,465 crore — up 49 per cent from previous year’s ₹10,376 crore. The unit value per tonne went up to ₹3.96 lakh per tonne (₹2.70 lakh per tonne). India is the seventh largest producer and fifth largest exporter of coffees

Ramesh Rajah, President, Coffee Exporters Association, said it has been a good year for coffee exports and attributed the record shipments to the surge in global prices. Plantation grades, which fetch higher value, got shipped more, he said.

While demand continues to be strong, it is the availability of coffees, that’s a challenge, Rajah said. Production, which has been stagnant for the past couple of years, has to go up, Rajah added.