EU imports almost 3 million tons of coffee in 2017

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA

The European Union's imported 2.92 million tons of coffee from abroad last year, the EU's statistical office announced Monday.

On International Coffee Day, Eurostat said the amount of the 28-member bloc's coffee imports rose by 5 percent compared with a decade ago.

The statistical office said coffee imports were worth €8.8 billion (approximately $9.94 billion) in 2017.

"Most of the coffee imported in 2017 from non-EU countries came from two countries," Eurostat said, noting that 29 percent of the coffee imports came from Brazil while 23 percent from Vietnam.

"They were followed by Honduras (211,000 tons), Colombia (188,000 tons), Uganda (149,000 tons), India (148,000), Indonesia (141,000) and Peru (119,000)," it said.

According to Eurostat, Germany was the top importing country in the EU, with 1.1 million tons, or 37 percent of the bloc's total imports last year.

Italy followed with 552,000 tons.