The Rules of Origin Rule That Rewrote Global Trade in Coffee

Episode 55 drills into a single obscure rule that transformed the $200 billion global coffee trade: the European Union's revised Rules of Origin for roasted coffee under the Generalized Scheme of Preferences. Lucas and Luna trace how a 2019 tweak to the 'substantial transformation' test — specifically the change from a 45% value-add threshold to a shift in tariff heading at the 4-digit level — allowed Vietnam to flood the EU with instant coffee, displacing traditional exporters like Colombia and Uganda. They walk through the actual HS code shift: from 0901.11 (green coffee) to 0901.21 (roasted), showing how a customs reclassification unlocked tariff-free access. The episode also touches on Indonesia's counter-move: building specialty-grade roasting facilities in Sumatra to meet the higher value-add threshold under the EU's Everything But Arms arrangement. A concrete, numbers-driven look at how a customs form, not a trade war, reshaped who gets to sell coffee to 450 million European consumers. #RulesOfOrigin #CoffeeTrade #EU #Vietnam #Colombia #Uganda #Indonesia #GSP #TariffClassification #GlobalTrade #SupplyChain #InternationalCommerce #RoastedCoffee #GreenCoffee #HS2022 #Economics #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo