Why instant coffee could be added to EUDR - and implications for industry

Instant coffee and EUDR omission: summary

• Instant coffee remains excluded from EUDR due to likely oversight
• Experts warn omission creates loopholes allowing imports without deforestation checks
• Most EU coffee imports are green beans entering under distinct codes
• Adding instant coffee would subject imports to stricter EUDR scrutiny

The EU deforestation regulation (EUDR) is designed to eliminate deforestation from at-risk commodities, including cocoa, palm oil, cattle, soy, timber and rubber.

Coffee, too, is included in the list – in almost all its forms. The regulation covers green coffee beans; roasted coffee; decaffeinated coffee (both green and roasted); coffee extracts, essences and concentrates; mixtures containing coffee; and coffee oils.

Strangely, what it doesn’t include, is instant coffee. But that may be about to change.

Why might instant coffee have been omitted from EUDR?

Instant coffee is a convenient, shelf-stable beverage made from brewed coffee beans. The primary difference between ground coffee beans and instant coffee is in the processing: to make instant coffee, brewed beans are dehydrated into powder or crystals that dissolve instantly in hot water – hence the name.

Like ground coffee, instant coffee is made from 100% coffee beans. And so, it’s baffling it wasn’t included in EUDR from the get-go.

It would be like cocoa being included, but not hot chocolate. And it’s left industry experts confused. “That wouldn’t make sense – and excluding instant coffee is similar in that regard,“ an EU coffee trade specialist tells us.

So why, if caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee, extracts and concentrates, and even coffee oils are covered by the regulation, might instant coffee have been omitted?

The answer may not be as complicated as all that. The most likely reason is human error, says the unnamed trade expert: “I understand instant coffee had been missed by mistake. The Commission has recognised that and is going to add it – because it’s a big, glaring omission."

What including instant coffee means for border checks

The vast majority (nearly 95%) of coffee imported into the EU is green coffee. Major suppliers include Brazil and Vietnam, with the biggest importers including Germany, Italy, Belgium, Spain and France.

Typically, green coffee is imported and then sold on to a trader or roaster, where it is processed into brown coffee – either ground or as whole beans. Each type of coffee product enters the EU under a specific customs code: green coffee under one, decaffeinated beans under another, and instant coffee under yet another.

Under the current system, instant coffee falls under a customs code that does not trigger EUDR due‑diligence checks at the border. If the Commission adds instant coffee to the regulation, imports under that code would face the same scrutiny as other coffee products.

Deforestation risk: How brands could sidestep regulation

As things stand, however, brands could technically exploit the gap. A company could source, process and package instant coffee entirely outside Europe, and then import the finished product into the bloc. Because it arrives in a more processed form – and under a code not currently captured by the EUDR – it could enter the EU market without deforestation checks.

In other words, deforestation risks would remain embedded in European coffee supply chains unless the instant coffee loophole is closed.

That’s not to say all instant coffee factories are located outside of Europe. They’re not. “But if you’re a big-name company, with processing operations closer to the coffee source, you could export packaged products into Europe – and sidestep the regulation," explains the coffee trade specialist.

Fragmented due diligence within coffee supply chains

The proposed change raises questions about multinationals: would companies selling coffee in multiple formats push for instant coffee to be included, simply to harmonise due‑diligence requirements across their supply chains?

From the trade expert’s perspective, it depends on the company. Some businesses will commit to ensuring all coffee is EUDR-compliant, no matter what region they’re selling it in. “But they’re likely the outliers,” we’re told. Many multinationals will be looking at cost, and making due diligence strategies accordingly.

“They may be thinking that in the Brazilian market, for example, they don’t need EUDR.” Which in turn, could lead them to query why they should make products EUDR-compliant, if it’s going to make them more expensive.

Although the intention of EUDR is to raise the bar and wipe out deforestation, compliance can be costly – without the stick, there may not be enough carrot. “Unless they have to, I think a lot of people won’t comply."

The coffee trade expert has also heard operators outside of Europe question EUDR compliance, full stop. Describing it as a version of “neocolonialism”.

“I’ve heard people say: ‘Why, if I’m Brazilian, should I comply with EUDR in my own market? I should be able to set my own rules – why should I be dictated to by Europeans in Brussels?’”

How likely is it instant coffee will be added to EUDR?

The Commission has not confirmed whether it will add instant coffee to EUDR, but equally, hasn’t ruled it out.

“The EUDR provides for the possibility to adopt Delegated Acts to amend Annex I, which identifies the relevant commodities and products under the EUDR,” says a spokesperson for the European Commission.

“The work on the Delegated Act is now continuing and a draft, including some further adjustment, will be subject to a public feedback period.”

Meanwhile, Euractiv reports the Commission is currently considering including instant coffee in the regulation, along with soap made with palm oil.

“It definitely makes sense for it to be included,” says the coffee trade expert. “If you set a rule for coffee, but the customs code only covers the raw product, well, the coffee is still coffee.

“It wouldn’t logically make sense to me that it would ever not be included."