The United States has regained its position as Kenya’s biggest coffee export market by volume, with changing work habits and household cost pressures helping drive a resurgence in American coffee consumption.
Agriculture and Food Authority data show US buyers took 10,844.1 tonnes of Kenyan coffee worth Sh7.42 billion in the year to June 2025, accounting for 21.4 per cent of total export value.
Belgium, which had displaced the US as the leading destination, bought a larger value of coffee at Sh7.62 billion from 8,332.5 tonnes, but its share of total earnings was lower at 16.44 per cent.
The change in the US market comes as coffee drinking increasingly moves into the home. A survey by the National Coffee Association found that 85 percent of Americans who had consumed coffee the previous day did so at home—the highest share recorded under that measure since 2012.
Remote and hybrid working has helped keep people at home, while higher household costs are making coffee shops a less frequent stop for some consumers.
Americans drink an average of 2.8 cups a day, adding up to more than 500 million cups served across the country.
For Kenyan exporters, the American market is particularly attractive because buyers have a preference for specialty and premium coffee. US buyers are also forging closer links with Kenyan cooperatives and estates, potentially cutting out some intermediaries.
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Kenya’s coffee export earnings rose to a record Sh43.89 billion in the year to June 2025, up from Sh39.95 billion a year earlier. The increase came despite only a modest rise in volumes.
Exports grew by three percent, from 49.2 million kilogrammes to 50.68 million kilogrammes, while earnings climbed nearly 10 percent. Higher international prices, driven by supply disruptions and poor weather in major producing countries, did much of the work.
The stronger US market offers Kenya an opportunity to push further into the premium end of the global market, but competition remains stiff from Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia and Honduras.
The US was Kenya’s largest coffee buyer in the year to June 2023. Belgium’s purchases that year stood at 5,026 tonnes worth Sh3.91 billion, or 10.48 per cent of total export value.
With global coffee prices volatile and supply under pressure, Kenya’s task will be to turn the renewed US appetite into sustained demand for its coffee rather than rely on a favourable price cycle.
