India’s coffee export sector closed financial year 2025-26 with its highest-ever annual earnings of USD 2.13 billion — a historic milestone that reflects strong global demand for both Arabica and Robusta varieties, favourable international price trends driven by weather-related supply disruptions in competing producer countries, and the growing traction of value-added formats including roasted and instant coffee in India’s export basket.
The surge was led by firm shipments to traditional European markets alongside emerging demand centres in the Middle East and Asia, where Indian coffee has been gaining recognition for its quality and value proposition. The FY26 record is particularly noteworthy given that it was achieved despite the significant disruption to Gulf shipping routes in March 2026 — the final month of the financial year — when the Hormuz crisis stranded approximately 300 coffee containers (6,000 metric tonnes) in mid-transit and raised freight costs sharply on the India-Gulf corridor. The full-year export number suggests that the first 11 months of the financial year’s performance was strong enough to absorb the March disruption without derailing the annual record.
IAPH President: India Ports Have Made Remarkable Progress, But Need Better Rail and Digital Systems
Jens Meier, CEO of the Hamburg Port Authority and President of the International Association of Ports and Harbours (IAPH), praised India’s rapid port infrastructure development during a recent visit to Chennai, describing the country’s progress over the past decade as ‘remarkable’ — particularly in large-scale infrastructure construction and road connectivity at key hubs including Mumbai. However, Meier was candid about the gaps that remain between India’s port ambitions and global best practice standards, emphasising that the next phase of competitiveness will depend on three areas: multimodal logistics and hinterland efficiency, rail modal share improvement, and digital integration.
Comparing Indian ports with the Port of Hamburg, Meier noted that while JNPA and Chennai Port have scale and ambition, significant gaps remain in rail’s share of cargo evacuation from ports — at Hamburg, rail carries a substantially higher proportion of container movements than at Indian ports, where road transport dominates. He also highlighted the need for greater process standardisation and digital system integration between ports, shipping lines, customs, and inland logistics operators — a point that aligns with India’s own Sagarmala digitisation agenda and the PM GatiShakti integration framework. Meier’s assessment, delivered by the most senior global port governance official, provides a credible external benchmark for India’s port sector improvement agenda.
South Korea to Reroute Ships via Red Sea Bypassing Hormuz
In a sign of how the Hormuz crisis is reshaping global shipping strategies, South Korea has announced plans to reroute a portion of its commercial shipping fleet through the Red Sea — using the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and Suez Canal corridor — to avoid the increasingly volatile Hormuz passage. While the Red Sea itself carries residual Houthi threat, Korean operators have calculated that the Bab-el-Mandeb risk is currently lower and more manageable than the near-complete Hormuz closure. The decision reflects a broader pattern of shipping operators systematically reassessing routing strategies to find the least-bad alternative to the standard Gulf-Suez corridor.
