Yemen

Yemen was the first place coffee was cultivated as a crop and gave the trade the name Mocha after its old Red Sea port. Today about 600,000 people grow tiny terraced plots of local landraces in the western highlands, drying coffee as whole cherry, and conflict makes export volumes and logistics unpredictable.

Arabica Harvesting in November

Production 2014/15
130kbags7,800 t · USDA PSD
Exports 2014/15
6kbags5% of the harvest
Arabica share
100%
World rank
36of 470.1% of origin output
Area harvested 2024
37khaFAOSTAT
Altitude
not published

Production and exports

60 kg bags · USDA PSD market years
050k100k150k200k201020122014201620182020202220242026Production0Exports0Domestic use0
050k100k150k200k’10’20Production0Exports0Domestic use0

Market years 2010/11 to 2026/27; the last year is USDA's current estimate. Domestic use is PSD's domestic consumption line.

Area harvested, hectares · FAOSTAT

30k32k34k36k38k40k’10’15’20Area37k

FAOSTAT crops and livestock products, item green coffee (CC BY 4.0). Values flagged as estimates by FAO are included as published.

Where the coffee goes

Supply and use
USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Production, Supply and Distribution (PSD), market years. Supply on the left equals use on the right.
Stocks carried in0
Production130k
Imports0
Exports6,000
Domestic use124k
Stocks carried out0
Share of the harvest exported5%
Rank among producing origins by exports41 of 46

Where the exports go is not published here. Shipments by destination, including US imports from Yemen, come from USITC DataWeb and the Census trade API, which need credentials we do not hold yet.

Harvest

Harvest calendar for every origin
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec

Main crop

Single source main crop

  • Whole country · main cropOct–Mar
    Single source

    Cafe Imports only; arrivals vary.

Growing regions

4 regions

Varieties, processing and grading

Main varieties

Mokka

Common processing

Natural (dry process)

Export grading

Other national grade vocabularies (Jamaica, PNG, DR Congo, Ecuador, Yemen, Flores)

Character and protected names

Flavour tendencies

Yemeni naturals tend toward deep chocolate, dried fruit and wine-like complexity.

General tendencies from importer origin notes, not a promise about any lot. The claims behind them are listed with their sources at the foot of the page.

Geographical indications and protected names

None recorded for Yemen.