Coffee from tree to cup: grown, hulled, shipped, roasted

By Alykhan Virani. Published 2026-10-10.

Part 1 of the series From source to store.

In 2024 none of the ten largest coffee growers by tonnes (FAOSTAT) ranked among the 15 largest exporters of roasted coffee by value. Switzerland led that list with $3.49 billion, 23.3% of the world’s $14.95 billion of roasted exports, followed by Italy at $2.50 billion and Germany at $2.09 billion (CEPII BACI). Those roasters start with green beans that were grown, hulled, bagged and shipped elsewhere. This post follows coffee through that chain, using the site’s tables to anchor each stage. “Coffee” here means green beans unless the text says roasted or soluble. For who grows it and who buys it, see the earlier post on the price record.

How it is grown

Two species dominate world trade. Arabica made up 102.3 million of the 176.8 million 60-kilogram bags harvested in the 2024/25 marketing year, or 57.8%, and robusta supplied 74.5 million bags, or 42.2% (USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, July 2026). The FAO gives arabica an ideal average temperature of 15 to 24 degrees Celsius and says it does best at higher altitudes, often on hilly land. Robusta takes 24 to 30 degrees, grows from sea level to about 800 meters, and does not tolerate temperatures much below 15 degrees (FAO coffee manual, section 1.4).

Geography then concentrates the crop. Brazil grew 3.39 million tonnes in 2024, 30.4% of the world’s 11.13 million tonnes across 78 countries, and Vietnam grew 2.02 million tonnes, 18.1% (FAOSTAT). Inside Brazil, Minas Gerais grows over 70% of the arabica and Espírito Santo about 70% of the robusta (USDA, July 2026). Vietnam’s crop is mostly robusta, 28.0 million of its 29.0 million bags in 2024/25 (USDA, July 2026).

A tree is a long commitment. The FAO says the first flowers appear in the third year and production pays only from the fifth (FAO coffee manual, section 1.1). World output averaged 11.12 million tonnes from 12.35 million hectares in 2022 to 2024, or 0.90 tonnes per hectare (FAOSTAT, three-year average).

The ICO’s 2019 Coffee Development Report estimates that coffee provides a livelihood for up to 25 million farmers and their families. The FAO calls handpicking the most expensive picking method, because it is labor intensive, but the one that gives the best results, and lists stripping, combing and mechanical vibration as alternatives (FAO coffee manual, section 1.6.1). Picking seasons stagger: Brazil harvests from May to September, Vietnam from October to January, and Colombia from October to December plus a mitaca crop from April to June (USDA crop calendars, on the harvest calendar).

From farm to export-ready

The bean sits inside a fruit, and the first job after picking is to get it out. In the dry method, whole cherries are dried in the sun for three to four weeks and then hulled (ICO development strategy, 2001, says about three weeks; FAO coffee manual, section 1.8, says up to four). The FAO says the dry method is used for about 95% of Brazil’s arabica and almost all robusta (FAO coffee manual, section 1.8). In the wet method, the pulp comes off, the beans ferment for 24 to 36 hours to loosen the mucilage, are washed, dried to 11% moisture and hulled to remove the parchment, then cleaned, screened, sorted and graded (FAO coffee manual, sections 1.8 and 1.9). In the FAO’s worked example, 249.5 kilograms of fresh cherry yield 45.4 kilograms of dry polished coffee under either method, a ratio of 5.5 to 1 (FAO coffee manual, section 1.10.2).

Quality rules for grade are voluntary. Resolution 420 of the International Coffee Council (May 2004) sets a target of no more than 86 defects per 300-gram sample for arabica and 150 for robusta, with moisture between 8% and 12.5%, and asks exporting members to mark the certificate of origin “S” when a lot meets both targets and “XD”, “XM” or “XDM” when it misses on defects, moisture or both (International Coffee Council, Resolution 420, 2004).

The result is green coffee, the form that dominates trade. In 2024 the world exported 7.72 million tonnes of green coffee (HS code 090111) worth $33.68 billion, or $4.36 per kilogram, and 1.32 million tonnes of roasted coffee (090121) worth $14.95 billion, or $11.36 per kilogram (CEPII BACI). Green coffee was 66.5% of the $50.64 billion exported under HS 0901 (green, roasted, decaffeinated and husks; soluble coffee is classified elsewhere and is not in this total), and roasted coffee 29.5%. USDA counts roasted coffee at 1.19 times its weight and soluble coffee at 2.6 times in green-bean equivalent. On that basis, of the 147.7 million bags exported in 2024/25, 82.4% left as beans, 13.3% as soluble and 4.2% as roasted and ground (USDA, July 2026). USDA nets out re-exports by non-producing countries, so its roast-and-ground share is much smaller than the gross trade in HS 090121 (1.32 million tonnes, about 26.1 million bags in green-bean equivalent, CEPII BACI 2024).

Moving it

Coffee is counted in 60-kilogram bags. Hapag-Lloyd, a container carrier, says about 80% of the world’s coffee is shipped by container, and that about 80% of the coffee it moves through its German ports, about 60,000 TEU a year, travels as loose bulk in the container, with smaller lots of high-quality beans in traditional bags (Breakbulk News, 21 November 2024; carrier estimates, year not stated).

Brazil funnels most of its coffee through one port. Brazil exported 36.87 million bags in January to November 2025, and Santos shipped 29.06 million of them, or 78.8% (Cecafé, the Brazilian coffee exporters’ council). That is about 1.74 million tonnes in January to November 2025, roughly 1% of the 186.4 million tonnes Santos handled in all of 2025 (Brazil’s Ministry of Ports and Airports; the periods differ).

On arrival, coffee goes to a few ports and buyers. Germany imported 1.05 million tonnes of green coffee in 2024, and CBI (the Netherlands’ Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries) says the Port of Hamburg handles most of Germany’s arrivals (CEPII BACI; CBI, updated November 2025). The United States is the largest buyer at $6.16 billion, 18.3% of world green imports, followed by Germany at 12.9%, Italy at 7.7% and Belgium at 7.3% (CEPII BACI, 2024). The largest single route is Brazil to the United States at $1.90 billion, 5.6% of world green export value; the trade flows report shows the rest.

Who owns the coffee at sea depends on the contract. Under FOB, risk of loss passes to the buyer once the goods are loaded on the vessel at the named port, and the ICC says containerized goods suit FCA better because boxes sit at a terminal before loading (ICC Academy). Under Incoterms 2020 CIF the seller also pays freight and insurance to the destination port and must buy at least Institute Cargo Clauses (C) cover (ICC). The FOB, CIF and Incoterms explainer sets out each rule. The paperwork also includes the ICO certificate of origin that accompanies shipments from exporting members (International Coffee Council, Resolution 420, 2004).

Roasting, packing and getting it to you

Roasted-coffee exports are concentrated: Switzerland, Italy and Germany held 54.0% of world roasted export value in 2024 (CEPII BACI). Brazil exported 41.0 million bags of beans, 3.7 million of soluble and only 50 thousand of roasted and ground in 2024/25, in green-bean equivalent (USDA, July 2026). At USDA’s factor of 1.19, the 1.32 million tonnes of roasted coffee exported in 2024 equal about 1.57 million tonnes of green (USDA; CEPII BACI).

Germany shows the middle of the chain. It imported 1,049 thousand tonnes of green coffee in 2024, re-exported 168 thousand tonnes of it as green (16.0%) and exported 258 thousand tonnes roasted (CEPII BACI). It roasted 507 thousand tonnes in 2023, 22% of European production (CBI, updated November 2025). Switzerland imported 187 thousand tonnes of green coffee in 2024 and exported 106 thousand tonnes of roasted coffee at $33.0 per kilogram, almost three times the world average of $11.36 (CEPII BACI). The trade data alone does not explain that gap.

From the roaster, coffee goes to shops and cafés. A CBI market profile updated in November 2025 (data year not stated) says German retail sells 75% of coffee by volume but one quarter by value, while out-of-home sales, in cafés and restaurants, are 25% of volume and three quarters of value. Roasted coffee exported in 2024 sold for 2.6 times the price per kilogram of green coffee, but this site carries no retail prices (CEPII BACI).

Where the chain is thin

One country, one state

Brazil grows 30.4% of the world’s coffee by FAOSTAT’s count for 2024 (USDA’s own count puts Brazil at 65.5 of 176.8 million bags, 37.0%, in 2024/25), and Minas Gerais grows over 70% of its arabica. USDA says frost, heat or drought can push trees across large areas into a low-yield off-year together, and that an on-year crop can rise 5 to 10 million bags and fall by a similar amount the next year. After five years of weak Brazilian arabica output (13.3 million bags lower in the 2021/22 off-year), world ending stocks fell 15.5 million bags from 2020/21 to 2024/25 (USDA, July 2026).

One port

Santos shipped 78.8% of Brazil’s coffee exports in January to November 2025. In October 2025, 148 of the 203 container ships tracked at Santos, 73%, ran late or changed schedule, and exporters could not ship 2,065 containers holding 681,590 bags (Cecafé, reported 8 December 2025; the longest wait in the month was 61 days). Santos is a chokepoint for Brazilian coffee: one place carries most of the flow.

Slow trees

Because a new tree pays only from its fifth year (FAO coffee manual, section 1.1), planting more trees takes years to add output; yields can move sooner, as when Vietnamese growers raised fertilizer use after high prices (USDA, July 2026).

A few buyers and routes

The five largest exporters held 65.6% of green export value in 2024. Brazil supplied 30.8% of the United States’ green imports by value, 41.6% of Germany’s and 44.7% of Belgium’s, and the United States took 38.4% of Colombia’s (CEPII BACI).

Little buffer in the warehouse

ICE-certified arabica stocks were 217,646 bags on 15 September 2026, the lowest since 1999, and 260,654 bags by 30 September (ICO Coffee Market Report, September 2026), against a 2025/26 world crop of 178.8 million bags (USDA, July 2026). The ICO says what gets added to certified stock turns on quality, grading pass rates and delivery economics. The stocks-to-use guide explains why a small buffer makes prices sensitive to shocks.

Follow the data

• The coffee commodity page has every producer and trade table, and the price page tracks the arabica benchmark, which averaged $7.26 per kilogram in September 2026 (World Bank Pink Sheet).
• The trade flows report shows the biggest corridors, and the harvest calendar shows who picks in which month.
• Country pages cover Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia and Germany. The glossary defines FOB and Incoterms, and producing, exporting and processing explains why the three rankings differ.

Nothing here is investment advice.

Prices are monthly benchmark averages that lag the market; informational only, not investment advice.