Mexico Enacts Sustainable Coffee Development Law

Mexico’s federal government has published the Sustainable Development of Coffee Farming Law in the Official Gazette, creating the country’s first comprehensive legal framework governing the entire coffee value chain, from production and industrialization to commercialization and quality.

Julio Berdegué, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER), highlighted that the new law aims to promote coffee production, processing and marketing while improving bean quality across all stages of the supply chain. It also formally recognizes coffee as a strategic product for Mexico’s food sovereignty. “This is the first time Mexico will have an integral legal framework for the entire coffee sector,” he said.

The legislation seeks to organize the coffee supply chain and reduce market imbalances by improving access to reliable information on prices, costs and markets, allowing producers to negotiate with greater transparency. It also promotes paying premiums for quality and prioritizes support for producers who grow coffee sustainably using agroecological practices.

Berdegué said the law will encourage shade-grown coffee and traditional agroforestry systems, which help conserve soil, biodiversity and water. “We will position Mexican coffee as a sustainable product with territorial identity,” he said.

A central pillar of the law is the creation of a Price Monitoring Committee, which will publish reference prices for coffee purchases, including parchment coffee and its equivalents, as well as cherry, green and natural coffee. The reference prices will not be mandatory but will be based on objective data, including production costs, profit margins, commercialization costs and international prices.

“It is a tool that producers have been waiting for for a long time,” Berdegué said. He added that the mechanism will allow producers to negotiate with greater clarity and transparency.

The law also mandates the establishment of a National Commission for the Development of Coffee Farming, bringing together federal authorities, producers, industrial processors, roasters and marketers. The commission will be responsible for defining public policies, commercialization strategies, quality standards, training needs, and regulatory guidelines for the sector.

In addition, the legislation creates a National Coffee Farming Information System, which will centralize key data on economic variables, agricultural statistics, regionalization, and coffee-growing zones. The system will also track the interaction between coffee production and natural protected areas, as well as other conservation measures.

The platform will provide information on financing sources, technological development, technical services, current and projected climate conditions, prices, domestic and international markets, and trade flows. According to the law, the system will integrate data from INEGI, the SADER, universities and scientific and technical institutions.

The decree establishes that mandatory studies will be conducted each production cycle to identify market practices that may be harming producers. The findings will be made public to improve market transparency.

The new law repeals the 1972 Law on the Production and Sale of Roasted Coffee and allows SAEDER to work with the Ministry of Economy to issue reports on coffee imports and their effects, particularly when there are indications of unfair trade practices. Coffee exports will also be monitored to ensure compliance with trade regulations and international agreements to which Mexico is a party.

Berdegué credited the approval of the law to legislative efforts led by Senator Susana Harp of Oaxaca, Senator Manuel Huerta of Veracruz, and lawmakers in both chambers of Congress who supported the initiative. “At the end of the day, what we want is a fairer and more balanced market for coffee producers and for the entire value chain. This is long-awaited news for the Mexican coffee sector,” he said.