1 October 2026 | Kathmandu
Coffee is much more than a morning ritual. ☕🌍 Behind every cup lies a complex global story of farmers, workers, landscapes, markets, cultures and communities whose livelihoods are connected to one of the world's most widely traded commodities.
This year, International Coffee Day is being observed on 1 October under the theme “Celebrating Coffee, Honouring the People Behind Every Cup.” The theme places the people across the coffee value chain at the centre of the celebration, highlighting coffee's economic, social, cultural and environmental significance.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), up to 25 million coffee-farming households are involved in producing coffee worldwide, with smallholder farms estimated to account for as much as 80 percent of global coffee production. In 2024, global coffee production exceeded 11 million tonnes, with approximately 8 million tonnes exported. The value of global coffee production was estimated at US$25 billion, while international coffee trade exceeded US$34 billion.
For many producing countries, coffee is far more than an agricultural product-it is an important source of export earnings, employment and rural livelihoods. FAO reports that coffee exports accounted for 27.9 percent of total merchandise exports in Ethiopia, 20.1 percent in Uganda and 19.5 percent in Burundi in 2024. In Ethiopia and Uganda, coffee export revenues even exceeded their food import bills that year.
Yet the journey from coffee farm to consumer also reveals significant challenges. Smallholder producers can face volatile prices, rising production costs, limited access to finance and markets, and an unequal distribution of value along the supply chain. Coffee is also highly sensitive to changing temperatures, rainfall patterns, drought, excessive rainfall, pests and diseases-making climate resilience increasingly important for the sector.
Climate change is already influencing coffee markets. FAO reported that global coffee prices reached a multi-year high in 2024, with adverse weather in major producing countries among the factors contributing to supply pressures. Building resilient production systems-including climate-smart farming, agroforestry, soil and water conservation, biodiversity protection and improved access to climate information-will therefore be increasingly important for coffee-growing communities.
The United Nations General Assembly formally designated 1 October as International Coffee Day in 2026, recognizing coffee's cultural, social and historical significance and its contribution to livelihoods and several Sustainable Development Goals, including poverty reduction, food security, gender equality and decent work.
As millions of people around the world raise a cup today, International Coffee Day offers an opportunity to look beyond the beverage itself-to the farmers who cultivate it, the workers who process it, the ecosystems that sustain it, and the communities whose economies depend upon it.
Every cup has a story. Every bean carries the work of people and the character of a landscape. And a more sustainable coffee future depends on ensuring that the people behind every cup can build resilient livelihoods while protecting the land and ecosystems on which coffee depends.
Ecosphere News | Connecting people, nature and sustainable development.
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