Brazil Imports Coffee Despite Being a Top Producer. Here’s Where It Comes From

One of the crops hit hardest by Brazil’s extreme weather has been coffee. And the damage hasn’t only affected growers. With supply tightening and exports remaining strong, retail prices have surged.

In 2024, coffee—Brazil’s most consumed beverage—rose 46% in price, according to the “Price Variations: Brazil & Regions” report by Neogrid. Analysts say the trend is likely to continue.

The Brazilian Coffee Industry Association (Abic) warns that manufacturers may still pass along an additional 30% increase to consumers in the coming months to compensate for raw material costs that have yet to be factored into retail prices.

The chart below reveals the trend of coffee bean exports from Brazil between January 2021 and January 2024. This information was derived from DataLiner.

Coffee Bean Exports | Jan 2021 – Jan 2025 | TEUs

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

Coffee Imports

With drought and extreme heat disrupting output in key coffee-growing regions, increasing imports has been floated as a potential solution to boost domestic supply and curb price hikes. But according to Felippe Serigati, a researcher at FGV Agro, the volume needed to make a real impact would be enormous.

“There’s no country that could supply coffee in quantities large enough to significantly influence prices here,” he said. “Besides, coffee prices are high worldwide. It’s a commodity that follows the New York exchange. There’s no point.”

Sources of Imported Coffee

Brazil is the world’s top exporter of green coffee but also imports small quantities of roasted beans for certain blends.

In 2025, the country purchased 970.47 tonnes of roasted coffee, extracts, essences, and concentrates—a 19.4% increase from January and February 2024, according to Comex Stat, the foreign trade portal of Brazil’s Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade, and Services. Switzerland accounted for the largest share, supplying 40% of these imports. The top countries of origin of Brazil’s imported coffees are:

Switzerland: 39%
France: 21%
United States: 10%
Spain: 7.4%
Italy: 7.1%
Uruguay: 5.1%
Portugal: 2.5%
Czech Republic: 1.8%
Mexico: 1.3%
Poland: 1%
Netherlands: 0.63%
Belgium: 0.55%
South Korea: 0.44%
United Kingdom: 0.40%
China: 0.087%
Indonesia: 0.087%
India: 0.057%
Japan: 0.026%

Imports of unroasted coffee, however, were far lower. Between January and February 2025, Brazil brought in just 89.4 tonnes—a 54.4% drop from the same period in 2024. Nearly all of it (96.8%) came from Mexico.

“There’s no supply shortage,” Serigati explained. “The idea behind increasing imports is to help lower prices and inflation. Brazil, besides being a major exporter, is also a massive coffee consumer. But to meet that demand, how much would we have to import? These figures from 2025—just a few tonnes—make no difference. And globally, no country is in a position to provide enough coffee right now because harvests have been poor for at least two years.”

Coffee prices began climbing in 2024 after El Niño disrupted harvests in Southeast Asia. The climate phenomenon, which warms Pacific waters above normal levels, triggered droughts and extreme heat, hurting coffee crops in Vietnam and Indonesia. As a result, global buyers turned to Brazil, the world’s largest producer and exporter.

Tariff Cuts

Last Thursday (March 6), the Brazilian government announced six measures to lower food prices, a persistent concern for consumers. One of them was eliminating import tariffs on nine products, including coffee.

Other items affected by the tariff cuts include:

Olive oil (9%)
Corn (7.2%)
Sunflower oil (up to 9%)
Sardines (32%)
Cookies (16.2%)
Pasta (14.4%)
Meat (up to 10.8%)
Sugar (up to 14%)

The government is also set to increase the duty-free import quota for palm oil from 60,000 tonnes to 150,000 tonnes, pending approval by the Foreign Trade Chamber (Camex).

Limited Impact

The tariff cut on coffee is unlikely to lower prices, according to the Brazilian Instant Coffee Industry Association (Abics).

“Any plant- or animal-based product entering Brazil must undergo a phytosanitary risk analysis by the Ministry of Agriculture,” said Aguinaldo Lima, director of institutional relations at Abics. “Dropping the import tariff on coffee, without an official authorization for it to enter the country, won’t have any impact.”

Serigati from FGV Agro echoed this skepticism.

“The government is under pressure. Food inflation is frustrating consumers because they feel the price increases regularly,” he said. “And food costs are being blamed for the administration’s declining popularity. Something had to be done—but this move won’t deliver the expected results.

“If anything, olive oil might see an effect,” he added. “But that’s not a staple item for most households.”

Source: Globo Rural

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