India’s coffee exports registered a strong growth during the April-June quarter of current financial year with shipment volumes witnessing a 28 per cent increase on higher demand from traditional buyers in Europe despite the uncertainty and disruption in logistics triggered by the West Asian crisis during the period.
Shipment volumes were up at 1.3 lakh tonnes during Q1FY27 over corresponding last quarter’s 1.01 lakh tonnes. The export value in dollar terms was up 12 per cent at $678 million over same period last year’s $603 million. Exports in rupee value was up 24 per cent at ₹6,412 crore against corresponding last quarter’s ₹5,162 crore. However, the unit value realised by exporters was a tad lower at ₹4.91 lakh per tonne against ₹5.09 lakh per tonne on fall in global prices, which was offset to an extent by a weaker rupee during the quarter.
“The 28 per cent growth in volumes was good and surprised many of us. But for the Iran crisis, we would have seen at least a 10 per cent higher growth,” said Ramesh Rajah, President, Coffee Exporters Association. Further Rajah said the Indian prices were slightly lower and that made it competitive in the European market while attributing the growth partially to the good robusta crop.
However, the higher freight rates, triggered by the disruption in logistics due to the West Asian crisis did weigh on the realisations, which was offset by a weaker rupee.
Commenting on the outlook, Rajah said the overall growth in quantity terms will be good for the rest of the year. There’s a good demand for robustas as the shipments from Vietnam have slowed down, he added.
“There’s good interest from the buyers because there was very good value for Indian coffee in the first quarter, especially for washed arabicas and robusta cherry. The outlook for the remaining quarters looks positive and we may touch last year’s levels or exceed the exports as the pace is being maintained,” said Praveen Kolimarla of Agrani Coffee and Commodities. With heavy rains disrupting harvest in Brazil, there could be more demand for Indian coffee, especially the Robustas, he added.
For the first six months of calendar 2026, the exports were up 25 per cent at 2.55 lakh tonnes against corresponding last year’s 2.04 lakh tonnes. In value terms, the exports were up 13 per cent at $1.3 billion over same period last year’s $1.15 billion. Louis Dreyfus Company India Pvt Ltd was the largest exporter of Indian coffees in the first six months of calendar 2026 with volumes of of 24,351 tonnes, followed by CCL Products at 20,834 tonnes and NKG India Coffee at 16,485 tonnes.
Published on July 2, 2026
