Coffee exports from Switzerland have reached a new high of 83,819 tonnes in 2019. According to the country’s Federal Customs Administration, this amounts to sales of CHF 2.5 billion (about US$2.6 billion).
Most of the coffee exported was roasted – 98 per cent of volume – in whole bean, ground, and decaf forms.
The administration says coffee roasting and processing have a long history in Switzerland, with international sales skyrocketing since 2006, when 12,747 tonnes were exported.
Coffee exports grew even faster in terms of value, from CHF 202 million (about US$209 million) in 2006. This makes Switzerland among the top five processed coffee exporters in the world.
In 2019, 187,591 tonnes of coffee worth CHF 745 million (about US$772 million) were imported. The administration says this means the volume of imports has increased about one and a half times since the turn of the millennium. Of this, about 93 per cent was unroasted.
Although more coffee was imported than exported in terms of volume, the trade surplus in 2019 was CHF 1.8 billion. The Federal Customs Administration says the average price of coffee exports has more than doubled in the past 20 years, while that of coffee imports has only increased by around 8 per cent.
Almost half of the coffee imports in 2019 came from Brazil at 23 per cent, Colombia at 14 per cent, and Vietnam at 9 per cent.
Two European countries were among the Top 10 coffee suppliers, with Spain at 4 per cent and Italy at 3 per cent. For the most part, this coffee came to Switzerland already roasted, while mainly unroasted coffee was delivered from other countries.
On the export side, coffee deliveries went mainly sent to neighboring countries, with a cumulative 43 per cent and to North America at 13 per cent).
