While there has been widescale praise within the coffee industry from the scrapping of United States (US) tariffs on green coffee imports from the Brazil last week, however added duties still remain on the import of instant coffee.
On Thursday 20 November, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order removing the 40 per cent tariffs on Brazil that had been in place since August.
President Trump initiated these tariffs, on top of the 10 per cent reciprocal tariffs that had been in place for most nations around the world, due to a ‘national emergency’.
The Brazilian Instant Coffee Industry Association (ABICS) has called the fact a 50 per cent tariff remains on Brazilian instant coffee being imported to the United States as a hammer blow to the local industry, with exports to the US accounting for 20 per cent of its global trade.
“Instant coffee was not included in the exemptions specified in the annexes to the executive orders,” ABICS says in a statement.
“This contrasts with the overall progress in bilateral negotiations and represents continuing challenges for the sector.
Agricultural products including cocoa, beef, and fruits were included alongside green coffee as products that will no longer face added import tariffs from Brazil to the US.
President Trump and the US government have repealed a large number of international tariffs in recent weeks, while also signing trade agreements with other coffee producing nations including El Salvador, Ecuador, and Guatemala.
