The German Coffee Association has said that the federal republic and other EU countries should expect coffee shortages and price rises from 2025 thanks to a new EU law causing supply chain issues.

Coffee shortage expected in Germany and the EU

A new brew-haha in the coffee community; Holger Preibisch, Director of the German Coffee Association, is calling for the EU to delay its new regulation on deforestation for fear that it will disrupt supply chains in Germany and lead to a coffee shortage and price rises.

The new EU law, “Promotes the consumption of “deforestation-free” products” by ensuring that coffee, palm oil, cocoa and soy, among other goods, are not allowed to be imported to the EU if they were farmed on land that was deforested after 2020. While the law was adopted in June 2023, companies in the bloc have 18 months to ensure they are working within the new law.

According to Preibisch, the 18-month window is too short. “We are threatened with a shortage on the German and European market,” said Preibisch, “The price of available coffee will rise significantly.” The potential shortage comes just as Germany's love for coffee reaches new peaks. According to market research commissioned by the German Coffee Association, in 2022 Germans drank more coffee than ever before.

German government acknowledges the coffee problem must be solved

In the meantime, farmers in coffee-growing countries have been looking beyond the European market for other buyers, igniting concern that it will become harder for Europe to procure coffee. Speaking to Bloomberg in late 2023, Director of the International Coffee Organization (ICO) Vanúsia Nogueira also suggested that confusion over the new rules could contribute to a shortage.

After the German Coffee Association took the issue up with the German government, a spokesperson from the Federal Ministry for Food and Agriculture acknowledged that there were “hurdles to full implementation by the end of the transition period” and said that Berlin was working with Brussels to problem solve. 

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