A New Era in Coffee Import: Great Britain Prepares to Monitor Farm Locations

Traceability in the coffee sector has long been a topic of specialty coffee, certification, and sustainability programs. The new regulation prepared by Great Britain aims to transform farm information from a voluntary brand choice into a legal supply chain obligation for certain companies. The UK government announced on June 23, 2026, that it would advance the deforestation provisions under the 2021 Environment Act, which has been awaiting implementation for years. Barista Magazine describes this development in its assessment dated August 12 as a re-examination of a nearly five-year regulatory gap in coffee trade.

The plan is being prepared for Great Britain, encompassing England, Scotland, and Wales. According to the government's current policy document, businesses using certain commodities at risk of deforestation with an annual turnover of over £1 million are expected to establish a due diligence system. In addition to coffee, cocoa, beef, palm oil, rubber, soy, wood, and some derivative products are also included. Companies are expected to report their activities and collect geolocation data regarding production areas to prove the source of their products.

The critical point here is: as of August 14, 2026, these obligations have not yet come into force in Great Britain. The government states that it will consult with the business community, civil society, and international stakeholders regarding the details of the regulation, and legislation for implementation is expected to be issued in 2027. Therefore, the news should be conveyed as preparing to impose obligations rather than “the UK has imposed new obligations on coffee importers.”

At the core of the system is the verification that the coffee used has been grown in accordance with the relevant legislation in the country of origin. The government also wants the system in Great Britain to be as compatible as possible with the EU Deforestation Regulation — EUDR information requirements. The aim is to prevent companies trading with the EU from establishing two completely different data systems and to reduce the regulatory gap between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

In Northern Ireland, however, the situation is different. The EUDR will be directly applicable in Northern Ireland and will be one of the commodities included in the coffee scope. According to the UK government's guidance published in July 2026, the basic obligations for medium and large-scale operators will begin on December 30, 2026. For some micro and small primary producers, the date is extended to June 30, 2027, while for some products added to the scope later — for example, certain classes of soluble coffee — the date could be December 30, 2027.

An operator importing coffee under the EUDR cannot simply know the country of origin. A due diligence system is required to demonstrate that the product did not come from deforested land after December 31, 2020, and that it complies with the relevant legislation in the country of production. The official guidance published for Northern Ireland states that for production areas smaller than four hectares, the central GPS point may be requested, while for areas of four hectares and above, geographical polygon data showing the boundaries may be required.

This detail is operationally significant in the coffee sector. Specialty coffee businesses may already have producer and farm information for some lots; however, in high-volume blends, coffee can come from cooperatives, traders, and many different production areas. In such a supply chain, information such as “Colombia,” “Minas Gerais,” or “a specific cooperative” may not be sufficient on its own. New systems may require the geographical data of the production areas that make up the coffee to be transferred throughout the supply chain. Since the exact technical details of the Great Britain system are still in the consultation phase, the final form of these requirements will be clarified with the 2027 legislation.

Moreover, the obligation may not be limited to roasters purchasing coffee directly from farms. The official guidance published for Northern Ireland includes a direct example indicating that a coffee business in Northern Ireland purchasing coffee from a wholesale roaster in Great Britain may, in some cases, fall under the status of “operator.” Businesses sending products from Great Britain to Northern Ireland are also advised to retain and share necessary data, including farm geolocation information, to enable their customers to fulfill their obligations.

This situation may increase the importance of coffee supply software and data management. Linking green coffee lot numbers, exporters, farms or cooperatives, harvests, production area coordinates, and relevant due diligence references may require a data infrastructure used not only by the sustainability team but also by purchasing, importing, warehousing, and quality teams. The government guidance also suggests that necessary information should be shared as automatically as possible within the supply chain.

For small producers, there is another risk to be discussed. The increasing demand for detailed geographical data from large buyers may create a new compliance burden for farmers and cooperatives with limited digital record-keeping capacity. While the aim of the regulations is to prevent the market entry of products linked to deforestation, the cost of data collection and verification being passed on to producers could make access to trade more difficult, especially in fragmented small farm structures. Since the UK government is still consulting on the details of the regulation, there is currently no definitive outcome on how these costs will be shared.

In our opinion: The main message of this development for coffee businesses is broader than environmental legislation: traceability is becoming one of the core competencies of the purchasing department. In the upcoming period, a good green coffee contract may not only include price, quality, delivery date, and cup score; the availability of data regarding the parcels from which the product comes may also become a purchasing criterion. Turkey is not currently the market directly covered by this regulation in Great Britain. However, if roasters in Turkey sell products to the EU or the UK market or purchase coffee from the same international traders, the spread of these data demands throughout the supply chain may be inevitable. Businesses that already maintain traceability data on a producer, cooperative, trader, and lot basis may gain operational advantages before the regulatory obligation reaches them.