Coffee producers in the state of Veracruz are demanding a halt to imports they say are hurting production and pushing down prices.
Coffee farmers from the Coatepec region of the Gulf Coast state demonstrated in front of the Governor’s Palace in the capital of Xalapa on Monday, alleging export fraud and denouncing a lack of support from state and federal authorities.
Fernando Celis, adviser to the National Coordinator of Coffee Growers Organizations, said that while Mexico is exporting more coffee than in recent years, it is not exporting coffee of domestic origin.
As such, protesters were demanding that the government halt coffee imports from Brazil, Vietnam, Uganda and Indonesia, which, they say, are being labeled as Mexican coffee to avoid U.S. and European import tariffs.
“This is a fraud perpetrated by trading companies and validated by the Economy Ministry,” Celis said.
National coffee production during the 2024-2025 harvest was 3.9 million sacks and national consumption is 3.15 million sacks, according to the Veracruz-based digital newspaper e-consulta.com. However, 3 million sacks of coffee were exported, despite a surplus of just 750,000 sacks.
“The influx of foreign coffee beans is displacing domestic production, causing a drop in prices,” Celis said, explaining that robusta coffee produced abroad is cheaper.
In the last month, Celis said, the price of a quintal (100 kilos) of coffee fell from US $400 to US $350, representing losses for domestic producers of between US $7 and US$10 per quintal.
Producers demanded that the government implement protective measures for Mexican coffee and guarantee fair prices that allow coffee-growing communities to be sustainable.
In addition to pressure from imports that directly harm local producers, protesters also complained about budget cuts and institutional neglect that has left the sector vulnerable.
In September, the government dissolved the National Institute for Rural Sector Training and Development and, in mid-2023, the National Development Finance Corporation,nwhich oversaw funding for agricultural producers, was closed down. In 2020, the politics of austerity instituted by the Andrés Manuel López Obrador administration resulted in the elimination of one of the two undersecretariats in the Agriculture Ministry.
In September, Veracruz producers criticized another government program that seeks to promote instant coffee, saying it offered below-market prices.
With reports from La Jornada and e-consulta.com
