Spotlight on circularity and Ethiopian excellence at Houston coffee Expo
As the global coffee sector faces soaring prices, inflation, supply disruptions, and new tariffs, the need for sustainable, inclusive solutions has never been greater. At the April 2025 Specialty Coffee Association Expo in Houston, ITC championed circular economy innovations and elevated Ethiopian coffee producers on the world stage.
The global coffee sector is navigating a period of significant turbulence. Unprecedented green coffee prices, rising inflation, and ongoing economic uncertainty are squeezing margins across the value chain. At the same time, climate-driven supply disruptions and newly imposed US tariffs are adding pressure to an already volatile market. Against this challenging backdrop, the need for sustainable, resilient solutions has never been more urgent.
At the April 2025 Specialty Coffee Association Expo in Houston, the International Trade Centre (ITC) stepped forward with international partners like the International Coffee Organization (ICO), The Latin American and Caribbean Network of Fair Trade Small Producers and Workers (CLAC-Fairtrade), the Center for Circular Economy in Coffee (C4CEC), and Ethiopian coffee farmer unions as both a pioneering voice in the circular economy conversation and a long-standing advocate for coffee producers.
Circular economy is at the heart of the coffee conversation
Through active participation in two expert panels and direct support for Ethiopian cooperatives, ITC underscored its dual role: Fostering innovation for the future of coffee while championing the livelihoods of smallholder farmers today.
ITC moderated the panel ‘Shared value through circular economy and regenerative agriculture’ and featured highlights from the joint Coffee Development Report ‘Beyond coffee: Toward a coffee circular economy,” alongside its partners ICO and C4CEC. The highly attended session explored how regenerative practices and circular solutions –such as biochar and composting – can reduce emissions, improve soil health, and generate new income streams for farmers. The discussion highlighted that true decarbonization of coffee will require collaboration across the entire value chain, from farm to cup.
In an interactive session under Green Coffee Connect, ITC and C4CEC showcased entrepreneurs developing new products from what’s normally coffee waste. These included Canadian brand Eighty50’s sparkling RTD cascara beverage and Neutrality Co’s Good Vodka, distilled from mucilage. Both examples reflect the growing potential for origin-country innovation in circular coffee businesses. A new pilot initiative led by Women in Coffee Ethiopia in partnership with ITC and C4CEC – with funding from The Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands – aims to assess scalable models for these kinds of enterprises, with a particular focus on Ethiopia.
Ethiopia takes the lead on quality and sustainability
In parallel, ITC brought to Houston two Ethiopian coffee cooperatives – Bench Maji Coffee Farmers’
Cooperative Union and Oromia Coffee Farmers’ Cooperative Union – through the Netherlands Trust Fund V (NTF V) programme.
The co-ops engaged with international buyers, cupped their award-winning coffees, and explored financing opportunities. Oromia, recently crowned a Golden Cup winner, also featured at the Fairtrade International stand, while Bench Maji’s offerings were spotlighted in the Roaster Village tastings curated by Artisan Coffee Imports.
ITC is piloting agribusiness digitalization efforts in Ethiopia’s coffee sector and has already achieved significant impact in improving both business workflows and transparency and traceability, ahead of the EU Deforestation Regulation and EU mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence frameworks.
In a time of global uncertainty, ITC’s presence at the SCA Expo reinforced its commitment to driving sustainable innovation and amplifying the voices of coffee producers at the heart of the coffee sector.
About the project
The Netherlands Trust Fund V (NTF) (July 2021 – June 2025) is based on a partnership between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands and the International Trade Centre. The programme supports MSMEs in the digital technologies and agribusiness sectors. Its ambition is two-fold: to contribute to an inclusive and sustainable transformation of food systems, partially through digital solutions, and drive the internationalisation of tech start-ups and export of IT&BPO companies in selected Sub-Saharan African countries.
