Seismic shift in coffee imports as Colombia, Peru overtake Brazil

The U.S. administration lifted coffee tariffs this week, but its trade policies have caused a lasting realignment in the global coffee trade 

What you’ll learn in this article:

• How Brazil’s status is eroding as the favored source for U.S. coffee imports.
• Which countries are rising up the coffee-import leaderboard.
• The strategies coffee importers are using to protect their business amid trade policy shifts.

🎯 Best for: Purchasing managers, product specialists, supplier relationship managers, supply chain leaders, VPs of global operations.

Brazil fell from its perch as America’s top source of coffee bean imports last month, according to an analysis by ImportGenius. Both Colombia and Peru shipped more coffee beans to America than Brazil did in October, part of a larger trend that has seen numerous countries log substantial increases to their U.S. coffee imports this year.

“We’re seeing a notable shift in U.S. import patterns for coffee,” explains ImportGenius CEO Michael Kanko. “The tariffs on coffee-producing countries have diverged widely” — for instance, Brazil’s 50% tariff rate has been exorbitant compared to only 10% for Peru and Colombia — “and that has led importers to seek out new suppliers and develop new trading relationships.”

With coffee prices up 41% from last year, the Trump administration announced last week that it would exempt coffee from tariffs in a bid to lower retail prices. But Kanko says coffee prices may not come down as quickly as people expect. “Importers’ profit margins have taken a big hit from rising tariffs, so they could seek to recoup some of that as tariffs fall,“ he says. 

According to Kanko, the latest data suggests that a lasting realignment is underway in America’s coffee imports. “The broader lesson to importers has been that they need to diversify their supply chains, which helps keep prices stable and protect them against sudden changes to tariff policy,” he says.

A textbook case in minimizing tariff exposure 

The changing patterns in America’s coffee imports demonstrate the many ways companies work to minimize their tariff exposure. Monthly coffee bean imports to the U.S. from all countries spiked to unprecedented levels this spring, reaching above 4,600 TEUs in May. That was all before the Trump administration’s reciprocal tariffs went into effect, a clear case of pre-importing and stockpiling.

Among coffee-producing countries, Brazil has lost ground not only to Colombia and Peru but to multiple others. Data from the U.S. Trade Census for HS category 0901 (coffee, coffee husks and blends) shows that, for the first seven months of 2025, multiple countries have already surpassed their total coffee import values for all of 2024.

It’s notable that many countries experiencing substantial declines were subject to higher tariffs, including Brazil (50%) Switzerland (39%) and Canada (35%). Meanwhile, countries with only a 10% tariff rate (Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala and Ethiopia) saw some of the largest gains as coffee importers diversified their sources to minimize tariff exposure. 

Even if lower coffee tariffs help level the global playing field, Kanko believes that the shifting trade patterns we’re seeing now are likely to linger for years. “Every country in the world is competing against Brazil for U.S. market share, and that doesn’t change, no matter what the coffee tariffs are,” says Kanko. “Some countries made big inroads into the U.S. market this year, and they’ll fight to keep those gains.”

Takeaways for business: Wake up and smell the coffee 

Meanwhile, a more diversified global coffee market also suits U.S.-based coffee importers. “For importers, this is all about managing risk,” Kanko says. “No one knows how long any tariff rate will last, or which products and countries will be hit hard the next time.” 

That applies to any import which, like coffee, is produced in multiple countries around the world. Olive oil is a notable example: it hasn’t been exempted from tariffs, and importers should consider diversifying their sources and possibly stockpiling inventory to minimize tariff exposure, if they haven’t already. 

The same goes for pasta importers, as Italian producers are facing the possibility of an additional 91.74% tariff resulting from an anti-dumping investigation. Alcoholic beverages, from beer to spirits, are also made everywhere in the world, and continue to face widely divergent tariff rates depending on their source.  

The key takeaway for importers is to avoid relying on a single producer in a single country. “If all your eggs are in one basket, they could get crushed by a single policy change. The best way to protect your business is to have lots of relationships with lots of sources in different parts of the world.” 

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