UK grants duty-free status to Araku tribal coffee from India
The India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) has brought a significant boost to the Araku Valley Coffee production in the Eastern Ghats region of India. The duty-free access to the UK market is expected to increase export volumes by 20-30% in the 2024-25 season, directly benefiting over 150,000 tribal families involved in coffee cultivation in the region.
The tariff elimination under the FTA reduces costs for Araku coffee exporters, making the coffee more competitively priced compared to other origins and helping it gain market share in the UK and Europe. This, coupled with the coffee's organic certifications and growing organic farming efforts, enables higher procurement prices and premium positioning, translating into better incomes for tribal farmers.
The exposure from this trade deal helps position Araku Valley Coffee alongside other prestigious Indian agricultural exports like Darjeeling tea and Kashmiri saffron, raising its global profile. The FTA aligns with the Indian government’s “Vocal for Local” initiative, which emphasizes empowering local producers, especially from rural and tribal areas, facilitating their access to international markets.
Coffee cultivation in the Eastern Ghats region started about 65 years ago and has been linked to the dedication of tribal communities and support from government entities like the Girijan Cooperative Corporation (GCC). From 2015 to 2025, the GCC injected over ₹100 crores into the tribal economy via coffee procurement and credit. In the 2024-25 season, the GCC offered record-high procurement prices for tribal coffee, reaching ₹450/kg for organic Arabica parchment and ₹330/kg for organic Arabica cherry.
The transformation of Araku Valley Coffee has been remarkable, with about 6,000 acres of the plantation now certified as organic coffee. The coffee received a trademark (GCC Araku Valley Coffee) and the Geographical Indication tag in 2019. Coffee cultivation in the region started about 65 years ago and is now being taken care of by over 1.5 lakh tribal families. The coffee procurement has significantly expanded, from involving 4,744 tribal families in 2015-16 to over 25,000 families currently.
The impetus for coffee cultivation in the region came in 1985 with a planned effort by the State Government. The State Government sanctioned a ₹500-crore Paderu Coffee Project about 10 years ago, with the GCC mandated to procure, process, and market coffee produced by tribals under the project. The duty-free tag for Araku Valley Coffee aims to promote it to more international markets.
Coffee cultivation has also helped tribal families move away from 'podu' (shifting cultivation), a destructive farming practice that harms the environment. Efforts like training farmers in quality control and traceability complement the benefits of trade liberalization by improving product quality and enabling premium pricing. Coffee brands linked to tribal producers, such as Tribes Coffee, are gaining visibility, strengthening the link between tribal communities, sustainable cultivation, and market opportunities.
In summary, the India-UK FTA has created a favourable export environment for Araku Valley Coffee, supporting sustained growth in production and enhanced economic outcomes for tribal farmers in the Eastern Ghats. However, these benefits rely on continued quality improvements, organic certifications, and effective value chain integration to fully capitalize on the trade agreement advantages.
- The duty-free access to UK markets, facilitated by the India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA), has the potential to boost the finance sector in the Eastern Ghats region, as increased export volumes of Araku Valley Coffee could generate significant profits for tribal business owners.
- The alignment of the FTA with the Indian government’s “Vocal for Local” initiative serves to benefit the economy by opening up international markets for local produce, particularly in the markets of finance and trade, while empowering rural and tribal areas.
- The continued success of Araku Valley Coffee in global markets will hinge not only on maintaining a competitive edge through organic certifications and quality control but also on efficient integration within the finance and trade value chains, ensuring economic benefits are maximized for all parties involved.
