Coffee Importer Discusses Tariff Impact – CoffeeTalk

Margaret Nyamumbo, a Kenyan-born coffee importer, is closely monitoring President Donald Trump’s tariff policies. Her U.S.-based company, Kahawa 1893, sources its beans from growers in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Nyamumbo founded her company in 2018 to support female farmers in Africa and has sold over $3 million worth of coffee in 2023. The company is not the only U.S. coffee firm importing its beans, with just 1% of the coffee Americans drink coming from domestic growers.

Nyamumbo expects price disruption in the global supply chain that starts with coffee farms and ends with a barista making a cappuccino. Factors such as international trade agreements, corporate cost-cutting, commodity speculation, and where tariffs ultimately settle are currently up in the air. If tariffs stay where they are, and African products don’t get an exemption, the math gets difficult for businesses like Nyamumbo’s. “We’re going to have to raise prices,” she says.

When Trump announced sweeping tariffs earlier this month, Nyamumbo’s business looked better than some of her competitors on one crucial front. None of the countries Kahawa 1893 imports from faced a levy of more than the baseline 10%, while companies that source coffee from Vietnam, the world’s second-largest coffee producer, faced a tariff of 46%. The administration has since temporarily rolled tariffs on dozens of countries back to the 10% mark, but even that could be onerous on coffee businesses like hers.

The new policies mark an abrupt and confusing shift for Kahawa 1893 and other businesses that import goods from Africa. U.S. trade with Africa was previously tariff-free under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a trade deal aimed at boosting developing African economies. It’s unclear whether the new tariffs supersede AGOA, which is up for renewal in September.

Coffee isn’t the only thing that companies like Kahawa 1893 import. They also import materials coming out of China, like packaging and glass. The U.S. and Chinese governments have been in an escalating trade war since Trump’s announcement, with the U.S. now charging tariffs of up to 245% on certain Chinese products.

For now, Nyamumbo’s suppliers tell her they’re doing everything they can to defray her costs as an importer. She posits that they may look to reroute their shipments through other countries to lower the tariffs customers eventually pay. Across the board, the tariffs will likely shake up the way coffee is shipped. Companies may have to get creative in order to digest those higher prices and maintain profitability, either in the materials they use or the end product they produce.

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