Coffee is the single most important tropical commodity traded worldwide, accounting for nearly half of total
exports of tropical products. According to the International Coffee Organization (ICO), worldwide imports1 of
all forms of coffee2 of all origins reached 6.1 million tonnes in 2008, up by an average 2.4 percent annually
since 2000, when worldwide imports stood at 5.1 million tonnes. The EU is the world’s largest importer of
coffee, accounting for 66 percent of worldwide imports, or 4 million tonnes, in 2008, followed by the United
States (24 percent, 1.5 million tonnes) and Japan (7 percent, 423 602 tonnes). Europe consumes well over
90 percent of its imports, re-exporting the remainder in the form of green coffee (well over half of total reexports),
soluble coffee (one third of total re-exports), and roasted coffee3.