{ "id": "coffee-consumption-by-country", "url": "https://coffearium.org/entries/coffee-consumption-by-country/", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "title": "Coffee consumption by country", "summary": "Where the world’s coffee is drunk, how consumption is estimated from trade and stock data rather than counted, why per-person figures for trading hubs mislead, and where demand is growing fastest.", "domain": "trade", "kind": "Concept", "stage": "trade", "topics": [], "topicSections": {}, "lang": "en", "status": "verified", "reviewer": "Coffearium verification pass", "lastVerified": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z", "updated": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z", "added": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z", "brief": [ "The International Coffee Organization (ICO) puts world consumption at 182.2 million 60-kg bags in coffee year 2024/25 and expects a 0.8% decline in 2025/26.2", "By US Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates for 2025/26, the European Union, the United States and Brazil drink 51.5% of the world’s coffee (our calculation).1", "Consumption is not counted at the cup. For importing countries, the ICO deducts re-exports from imports and adjusts for changes in inventories.3", "Per person, our calculation from USDA and World Bank data gives 7.9 kg in Switzerland, 6.3 kg in Brazil, 4.5 kg in the United States and 0.27 kg in China (2025/26).1,4", "Between 2021/22 and 2025/26, consumption grew by 53% in Vietnam, 34% in Ethiopia and 30% in China, by USDA figures (our calculation).1" ], "quickFacts": [ { "label": "World consumption (ICO)", "value": "182.2 million 60-kg bags, coffee year 2024/25; 180.6 million estimated for 2025/26" }, { "label": "World consumption (USDA)", "value": "173.5 million 60-kg bags, marketing year 2025/26 (≈10.4 million t, our calculation)" }, { "label": "Largest consumers (USDA, 2025/26)", "value": "European Union 24.0%, United States 14.7%, Brazil 12.8% (our calculation)" }, { "label": "Largest region (ICO, 2024/25)", "value": "Europe, 30.1% of world consumption" }, { "label": "World average per person", "value": "≈1.3 kg green bean equivalent (2025/26, our calculation)" }, { "label": "Method", "value": "Apparent consumption; for importing countries, imports minus re-exports, adjusted for inventories" } ], "aka": [ "World coffee consumption", "Coffee consumption per capita", "Per capita coffee consumption" ], "linkTerms": [ "coffee consumption", "per capita consumption", "apparent consumption", "disappearance", "domestic consumption", "green bean equivalent" ], "related": [ "coffee-production-by-country", "crop-year-and-coffee-year", "switzerland-and-the-coffee-trade", "the-coffee-belt", "coffee-drinks-around-the-world", "coffee-as-food-in-ethiopia", "the-ethiopian-coffee-ceremony", "how-a-coffee-price-is-made", "the-coffee-value-chain" ], "contested": [ "World consumption in 2024/25: the ICO gives 182.2 million bags for the coffee year October–September2; USDA gives 171.8 million bags for marketing year 2024/25, in which producing countries keep their own crop years.1 The ICO notes that its coffee-year figures may differ from crop-year estimates, but neither source reconciles the gap of about 10 million bags.2", "Coffee per person in Belgium: a Dutch government market study cites an industry federation for 5.7 kg of roasted coffee per Belgian per year (year not stated); the same page gives a Belgian consumer-market volume of 44,600 t for 2023, which is 3.8 kg per person (our calculation with World Bank population for 2024).7,4 The page does not say on which basis (roasted or green) the 44,600 t are counted." ], "corrections": [ { "date": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z", "change": "The 50/50 arabica–robusta split of roasted and soluble coffee is now placed in the ICO export statistics.", "reason": "The ICO data concepts give the split for export statistics, not for consumption estimates. Found in the context audit of 24 Oct 2026." }, { "date": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z", "change": "The Belgian 44,600 t for 2023 is now described as a consumer-market volume (basis not stated), not as domestic consumption; the 282,000 t and 184,000 t are green coffee, attributed to Eurostat via the Dutch market study.", "reason": "The cited CBI page calls the 44,600 t a market “volume” and gives the trade figures for green coffee with Eurostat as source." }, { "date": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z", "change": "The ICO’s 50/50 split of roasted and soluble coffee into arabica and robusta is now limited to exporting members that produce or export both species.", "reason": "The ICO Statistics Committee document (SC-59-15) states the split only for those countries." } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "title": "Coffee: World Markets and Trade (July 2026)", "authors": "USDA Foreign Agricultural Service", "year": 2026, "publisher": "United States Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service", "url": "https://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/circulars/2026/07/coffee.pdf", "tier": "A", "tierNote": "Country values from the Coffee Summary tables (Domestic Consumption, Imports, Bean Imports, Soluble Imports, Bean Exports, Roast and Ground Exports, Soluble Exports, Exports), thousand 60-kg bags in green bean equivalent, marketing years 2021/22–2025/26 and the 2026/27 forecast. Shares, changes and tonnes are our calculation.", "quote": "Global consumption is expected to rise to a record 179.7 million bags, with the largest gains occurring in the European Union and the United States.", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s2", "title": "Coffee Market Report – August 2026", "authors": "International Coffee Organization", "year": 2026, "publisher": "International Coffee Organization (ICO)", "url": "https://www.ico.org/documents/cy2025-26/cmr-0826-e.pdf", "tier": "A", "tierNote": "A for its statistics (Table 3, Summary of supply, demand and balance, coffee years 2020/21–2025/26, consumption by region) and for its description of the ICO’s own method. Regional shares other than Europe’s are our calculation.", "quote": "Consumption is calculated as apparent consumption (production plus net trade and changes in stocks, where applicable) and, as such, is subject to yearly fluctuations.", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s3", "title": "Data concepts and variables used in the statistics of the Organization (SC-59-15)", "authors": "International Coffee Organization, Statistics Committee", "year": 2015, "publisher": "International Coffee Organization", "url": "https://ico.org/documents/Key documents/kd-sc-59e-data-concepts.pdf", "tier": "A", "tierNote": "Statistics Committee document dated 17 August 2015; A for the ICO’s definitions of its own statistics.", "quote": "Level of consumption in importing Members which is measured by deducting re-exports from imports", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s4", "title": "World Development Indicators: Population, total (SP.POP.TOTL)", "authors": "World Bank", "year": 2026, "publisher": "World Bank, licence CC BY 4.0", "url": "https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL", "tier": "A", "tierNote": "Values for 2025 (Belgium: 2024, 11,858,610) read on 24 Oct 2026 from the World Bank API (api.worldbank.org/v2/country//indicator/SP.POP.TOTL; last updated 13 Jul or 8 Oct 2026 depending on the country). Switzerland (9,092,436) and World (8,215,424,893) were first read from the same series as republished by FRED (POPTOTCHA647NWDB, SPPOPTOTLWLD) and confirmed identical on the World Bank API on 24 Oct 2026. All values are kept in tools/figures/data/coffee-consumption-by-country-per-capita.json. The World Bank names its sources as UN World Population Prospects, national statistical offices and Eurostat.", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s5", "title": "Drinking patterns in selected importing countries (ICC 107-11)", "authors": "International Coffee Council", "year": 2011, "publisher": "International Coffee Organization", "url": "https://ico.org/documents/icc-107-11e-drinking-patterns.pdf", "tier": "A/B", "tierNote": "ICO Council document dated 22 September 2011; A for the ICO consumption totals and conversion factors it uses; B for the split between roasted and soluble coffee, which applies Euromonitor market shares to ICO totals (averages 1997–2010), as the document itself states.", "quote": "To convert roasted coffee into green bean equivalent, multiply the net weight of roasted coffee by 1.19.", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s6", "title": "Price-elasticity of demand and coffee consumption in importing countries (EB 3871/04)", "authors": "International Coffee Organization, Executive Board", "year": 2004, "publisher": "International Coffee Organization", "url": "https://ico.org/documents/eb3871e.pdf", "tier": "A/B", "tierNote": "ICO Executive Board document dated 21 September 2004; A for its per capita disappearance statistics (Annex I, calendar years 1965–2003), B for its analysis. Belgium and Luxembourg are reported together.", "quote": "Per capita disappearance in importing countries", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s7", "title": "The Belgian market potential for coffee", "year": 2026, "publisher": "CBI – Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries, Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs", "url": "https://www.cbi.eu/market-information/coffee/belgium/market-potential", "tier": "A", "tierNote": "Government export-promotion agency (page updated 16 March 2026); a compilation of trade data, tiered as the Swiss page (s8) and as in Switzerland and the coffee trade. The 2024 green coffee imports (282,000 t) and re-exports (184,000 t; 185,000 t in a comparison further down the same page) are given with “Source: Eurostat, 2025”. The 44,600 t is a Belgian consumer-market volume for 2023 in a section sourced to the European Coffee Federation’s European Coffee Report 2023–2024; the 5.7 kg of roasted coffee per person is linked to the Belgian food industry federation (Fevia), without a year. Both are relayed figures and are attributed in the text.", "quote": "Belgium is the largest European re-exporter of green coffee.", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s8", "title": "The Swiss market potential for coffee", "year": 2022, "publisher": "CBI – Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries, Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs", "url": "https://cbi.eu/market-information/coffee/switzerland/market-potential", "tier": "A", "tierNote": "Government export-promotion agency (page updated 15 August 2022); a compilation of trade data (mostly Eurostat and ICO, 2020–2021).", "quote": "In 2021, 99% of Swiss green coffee imports were sourced directly from producing countries.", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s9", "title": "World coffee consumption", "authors": "International Coffee Organization", "year": 2015, "publisher": "International Coffee Organization (ICO)", "url": "https://ico.org/documents/new-consumption-table.pdf", "tier": "A", "tierNote": "ICO statistical table, data as at April 2015; thousand 60-kg bags, calendar years 2011–2014. Later ICO releases revise earlier years and use coffee years, so these values are not directly comparable with the 2026 report.", "quote": "Data as at April 2015", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" } ], "markdown": "## How coffee consumption is counted\n\nNo one counts the cups. Coffee consumption by country is an estimate built from trade, production and stock data. The International Coffee Organization (ICO) calls it apparent consumption: production plus net trade and changes in stocks.2 As apparent consumption, the figures fluctuate from year to year.2\n\nFor importing countries, the ICO uses a measure it calls disappearance. Re-exports are deducted from imports, and the result is adjusted for changes in visible inventories.3 Inventories here are stocks of green coffee held by importers and roasters.3 For producing countries, the ICO uses domestic consumption estimates provided by its members.3\n\nCoffee crosses borders as green, roasted and soluble (instant) coffee. To add them up, statistics convert everything to green bean equivalent (GBE). The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) multiplies roasted coffee by 1.19 and soluble coffee by 2.6.1 Volumes are given in bags of 60 kg of green coffee.\n\nThe two main datasets use different years. The ICO reports by coffee year, from October to September.2 USDA uses marketing years, which for many producing countries follow their own crop year.1 Crop year and coffee year explains the difference.\n\n## The largest consumers\n\nThe ICO estimates world consumption at 182.2 million bags in coffee year 2024/25, up 4.3% on the year before.2 For 2025/26 it expects a decline of 0.8%, partly a normalisation after unusually strong growth.2 The ICO names the United States as the world’s largest coffee-consuming country.2\n\nUSDA counts 173.5 million bags in 2025/26, about 10.4 million t of green coffee (our calculation).1 USDA lists the European Union as one bloc. Its 27 countries drank 41.6 million bags, the United States 25.6 million and Brazil 22.3 million.1 These three drink 51.5% of the world total (our calculation).1\n\n
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The 12 largest consumers in marketing year 2025/26, in million 60-kg bags of green bean equivalent. Shares of the world total of 173.5 million bags are our calculation. The European Union is one bloc in the source. Data: USDA, Coffee: World Markets and Trade, July 2026.1
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\n\nAfter the three leaders, the field is close. Japan, the Philippines and China each drank 6.4–6.7 million bags in 2025/26.1 For 2026/27, USDA forecasts a record 179.7 million bags, with the largest gains in the European Union and the United States.1\n\nBy region, Europe drank the most: 30.1% of world consumption in 2024/25, according to the ICO.2 Asia and Oceania followed with 48.9 million bags, North America with 30.2 million and South America with 28.8 million.2 For 2025/26 the ICO expects South America to overtake North America as the third-largest region.2\n\n## Coffee per person\n\nTotals favour large countries. Dividing consumption by population shows how much coffee an average person drinks. The ICO calculates per capita consumption in this way, from disappearance or domestic consumption.3\n\nFor the chart below, we divided USDA consumption for 2025/26 by World Bank population for 2025 (our calculation).1,4 The world average is about 1.3 kg of green coffee per person per year. Switzerland reaches 7.9 kg, Brazil 6.3 kg and the United States 4.5 kg. China stands at 0.27 kg and India at 0.06 kg.\n\n
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Coffee consumption per person in 2025/26, in kg of green bean equivalent per year. Our calculation: USDA domestic consumption × 60 kg per bag, divided by World Bank population for 2025. Marketing years differ between producing countries.1,4
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\n\nThese are kilograms of green coffee, not of roasted coffee or cups. A kilogram of roasted coffee counts as 1.19 kg of green coffee in USDA tables.1 Per-person figures from other bodies may use roasted weight, so they are not directly comparable.\n\nTrading hubs need care. Belgium imported 282,000 t of green coffee in 2024, according to a Dutch government market study citing Eurostat.7 Divided by its population, that would be 23.8 kg per person (our calculation).7,4 Yet most of it is re-exported, mainly to other European countries.7 Imports alone are therefore not consumption.\n\n## Producing countries and Asia\n\nProducing countries drink a growing part of their crop. Brazil is the second-largest consuming country after the United States in the USDA table.1 How much each producer keeps at home is set out in Coffee production by country.\n\nSeveral producing and Asian countries have grown fast. Between 2021/22 and 2025/26, Vietnam’s consumption rose from 3.2 to 4.9 million bags (+53%, our calculation).1 Ethiopia rose from 3.4 to 4.5 million bags and China from 4.9 to 6.4 million bags.1 USDA lowered its Ethiopian export estimate because more coffee than expected was drunk at home.1\n\n
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Coffee consumption in six producing and Asian countries, in million 60-kg bags: 2021/22 (hollow dot) and 2025/26 (filled dot). Percentage change: our calculation. Data: USDA, Coffee: World Markets and Trade, July 2026.1
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\n\nNot every Asian market grew in this period. South Korea, which USDA does not list as a producer, stayed between 3.2 and 3.4 million bags.1 Indonesia, a large producer, stayed at about 4.8 million bags.1 USDA revises its estimates between reports, and the July 2026 circular lists such revisions.1\n\nWays of drinking coffee differ widely between these countries. Brewing traditions are described in Coffee drinks around the world and The Ethiopian coffee ceremony.\n\n\n\n## Disappearance and apparent consumption\n\nThe ICO’s Statistics Committee defines disappearance as the level of consumption in importing members. It is measured by deducting re-exports from imports and adjusting for changes in visible inventories.3 Net imports equal gross imports less re-exports.3 In non-member countries, the ICO treats net imports as actual consumption.3 Per capita consumption is disappearance, or domestic consumption in exporting countries, divided by population, which the ICO takes from the International Monetary Fund.3\n\nFor producing countries, members provide the estimates. If no recent estimate exists for the current crop year, the ICO uses the previous year’s.3 In its export statistics, for exporting members that produce or export both species, the ICO converts roasted and soluble coffee into GBE and splits it 50/50 into arabica and robusta.3 Its Coffee Market Report summarises the result as apparent consumption: production plus net trade and changes in stocks, where applicable.2\n\nUSDA tables give production, imports, exports, consumption and ending stocks by country. For each non-producing country, it uses the balance of imports and exports to avoid double counting.1 Switzerland shows why. In 2025/26, USDA counts Swiss imports of 3.5 million bags but consumption of 1.2 million.1 Swiss exports of roasted and ground coffee came to 1.9 million bags in GBE.1 South Korea’s imports and consumption are both 3.2 million bags.1\n\n| Step | ICO (importing members) | USDA |\n|---|---|---|\n| Starting point | Gross imports from all origins, in GBE3 | Production, imports and exports by form in GBE1 |\n| Re-exports | Deducted (net imports)3 | Trade balance used for non-producing countries1 |\n| Stocks | Adjusted for changes in visible inventories3 | Ending stocks in the balance1 |\n| Year | Coffee year, October–September2 | Marketing year; October–September for non-producers1 |\n| Conversion | Roasted ×1.19; soluble ×2.6 (2011 document)5 | Roasted ×1.19; soluble ×2.61 |\n\n## Re-export hubs and per-person figures\n\nHubs import far more coffee than they drink. Belgium is the largest European re-exporter of green coffee, according to the Dutch market study.7 It gives 282,000 t of green coffee imports and 184,000 t of green coffee re-exports for 2024, citing Eurostat.7 For the Belgian consumer market it gives a volume of 44,600 t in 2023, from a European Coffee Federation report, without saying whether this is roasted or green coffee.7 Divided by imports, Belgium would appear to drink 23.8 kg per person; divided by that market volume, 3.8 kg (both our calculation).7,4\n\nSwitzerland is the other well-known case. It imports mostly green coffee and exports mostly roasted coffee; Switzerland and the coffee trade explains the flows. The Dutch government study gives about 7.9 kg per person for 2020, without stating whether green or roasted.8 Our calculation from USDA and World Bank data gives the same 7.9 kg for 2025/26.1,4 In the ICO’s 2004 series of per capita disappearance, Switzerland stood at 6.95 kg in 2003.6\n\nDeducting re-exports removes the largest distortion, but not all of it. The 2004 ICO study notes that part of imports is destined for re-export.6 It adds that more precise analysis would need more detail on the structure of imports and re-exports.6 No source consulted for this entry measures how far the remaining gaps change the ranking of small hub countries. Germany, a large importer and re-exporter, is not shown separately in the USDA table, which reports the European Union as a whole.1\n\n## Green, roasted and soluble coffee\n\nHow coffee is drunk shapes how it is traded. In 2025/26, USDA counts world exports of 145.9 million bags in GBE.1 Of these, 119.5 million were green coffee, 19.9 million soluble coffee and 6.5 million roasted and ground (our sum and shares: 81.9%, 13.7% and 4.4%).1 In 2025/26 the largest soluble exporters in the table are Brazil, Vietnam, the European Union, Malaysia and India.1\n\nSome markets rely on soluble coffee. The Philippines imported 6.1 million bags in GBE in 2025/26, of which 5.5 million were soluble coffee (90.5%, our calculation).1 No source consulted for this entry gives the share of soluble coffee in consumption worldwide.\n\nAn older ICO study estimated the split between roasted and soluble coffee in eight importing countries. It applied Euromonitor market shares to ICO consumption totals, averaged over 1997–2010.5 On that basis, soluble coffee made up 8.8% of consumption in the United States, 35.8% in Japan, 79.8% in the United Kingdom and 88.8% in Russia.5 These shares are dated and rest on market-research data.\n\n## Reference values\n\n| Parameter | Value | Date and basis | Source |\n|---|---|---|---|\n| World consumption (ICO) | 182.2 million bags; 180.6 million estimated | Coffee years 2024/25 and 2025/26; apparent consumption | ICO2 |\n| World consumption (USDA) | 171.8 million bags (2024/25); 173.5 million (2025/26); 179.7 million forecast (2026/27) | Marketing years, GBE | USDA1 |\n| World consumption in tonnes | ≈10.4 million t | 2025/26, our calculation (bags × 60 kg) | USDA1 |\n| World consumption (ICO, older series) | 149.3 million bags, of which 46.2 million in exporting countries | Calendar year 2014, data as at April 2015 | ICO9 |\n| Consumption by region (ICO) | Europe 54.8, Asia and Oceania 48.9, North America 30.2, South America 28.8, Africa 13.3, Central America and Mexico 6.2, Caribbean 0.1 million bags | Coffee year 2024/25 | ICO2 |\n| Largest consumers (USDA) | European Union 41.6, United States 25.6, Brazil 22.3, Japan 6.7, Philippines 6.5, China 6.4 million bags | 2025/26 | USDA1 |\n| Consumption per person | Switzerland 7.9, Canada 7.3, Brazil 6.3, EU 5.5, United States 4.5, Japan 3.2, China 0.27, world 1.3 kg GBE | 2025/26, our calculation with 2025 population | USDA1, World Bank4 |\n| Switzerland per person, other sources | 7.9 kg (2020); 6.95 kg (2003, per capita disappearance) | Dutch market study; ICO series | CBI8, ICO6 |\n| Belgium imports and re-exports | 282,000 t green coffee imported; 184,000 t re-exported | 2024, Eurostat via CBI | CBI7 |\n| Growth 2021/22 to 2025/26 | Vietnam +53%, Ethiopia +34%, China +30%, India +80% (from 0.9 to 1.6 million bags) | Our calculation | USDA1 |\n| Conversion to GBE | Roasted × 1.19; soluble × 2.6 | USDA tables | USDA1 |\n| Exports by form | Green 119.5, soluble 19.9, roasted and ground 6.5 million bags GBE | 2025/26 | USDA1 |\n\nThe ICO figures for 2014 and 2024/25 are not a clean time series. The older table uses calendar years, and later ICO releases revise past years.9,2\n\n## Open questions\n\n- **Comparable datasets.** ICO and USDA world totals for 2024/25 differ by about 10 million bags; no source consulted here reconciles them country by country (see Contested).1,2\n- **Hub countries.** No source consulted for this entry measures how much of the per-person figure for Switzerland, Belgium or Luxembourg reflects coffee bought by non-residents or stocks moving across borders.\n- **Producing-country estimates.** Consumption in producing countries rests on member estimates and is revised between reports; no survey-based check of these estimates was found.3,1\n- **Form of coffee drunk.** The most recent roasted and soluble shares consulted here are averages for 1997–2010 and rest on market-research data.5\n\n## Key reports\n\n
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USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, 2026 – Coffee: World Markets and Trade. The USDA report on world coffee supply and use. Its tables give consumption, imports and exports by country and by form (green, roasted, soluble) in green bean equivalent.

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July 2026 · PDF

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International Coffee Organization, 2026 – Coffee Market Report, August 2026. Gives the ICO’s supply and demand balance by coffee year, with consumption by region. It defines consumption as apparent consumption: production plus net trade and changes in stocks.

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ICO · PDF

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ICO Statistics Committee, 2015 – Data concepts and variables. Defines the terms behind ICO statistics: disappearance, net imports, inventories, domestic consumption and per capita consumption. It is the clearest statement of how consumption figures are built.

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SC-59-15 · PDF

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International Coffee Council, 2011 – Drinking patterns in selected importing countries. Estimates the split between roasted and soluble coffee in eight importing countries from 1997 to 2010. It applies market-research shares to ICO totals and states the conversion to green bean equivalent.

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ICC 107-11 · PDF

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