What is the EUDR?
The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) — officially Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 — requires that, from 30 December 2026, all products placed on the EU market or exported from it must be proven free from deforestation and forest degradation. Coffee is one of seven “forest-risk commodities” listed in the regulation, alongside cocoa, soy, palm oil, rubber, wood, and cattle.
In practice, every shipment of coffee entering the EU after the deadline must be accompanied by a due-diligence statement demonstrating that the product was not grown on land that was forested or degraded after 31 December 2020. The traceability requirement extends to the specific geolocation of the plot where the crop was produced — not just the province or cooperative, but the GPS coordinates of the farm itself.
Why this matters for Vietnamese Robusta
Vietnam is the world’s largest exporter of Robusta coffee, and the EU has historically been one of its top three destination markets by volume. According to the International Coffee Organization, the EU absorbed roughly 40–45% of Vietnam’s total coffee exports in recent crop years, making regulatory compliance in this market commercially critical for the entire supply chain.
The challenge lies in the structure of Vietnamese coffee farming. An estimated 85–90% of the country’s coffee area consists of smallholder plots, many under two hectares. Mapping these farms to GPS precision, linking each lot to verifiable land-use history, and maintaining that traceability through processing and export requires coordination that the industry has not previously needed at this scale. The Central Highlands provinces of Dak Lak, Gia Lai, and Lam Dong, which produce the majority of Vietnam’s Robusta, are the areas where compliance infrastructure needs to be built most urgently.
What exporters are doing now
Across Vietnam’s coffee sector, preparation for the EUDR is well underway. Government agencies, including the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), have been running pilot programs to test geolocation data collection at the farm level. Leading exporters have invested in traceability platforms that link each lot number to farm coordinates, allowing them to generate the
due-diligence statements that EU customs authorities will require.
• Sourcing: partnering with farming clusters that can provide plot-level geolocation data and documented land-use history dating back to 2020.
• Documentation: building digital traceability systems that connect raw-material lots to finished-shipment containers, so that every export document set includes the EUDR reference number.
• Testing and verification: pre-shipment auditing against the EU’s risk-assessment framework, including cross-referencing satellite monitoring data with self-reported farm boundaries.
What this means for buyers
For international buyers sourcing Robusta from Vietnam for the EU market, the EUDR changes the procurement checklist. It is no longer sufficient to rely solely on a Certificate of Origin and a standard COA; buyers will need confirmation that their supplier can provide the EUDR due-diligence statement, including geolocation data for the lots that make up the shipment.
We recommend that buyers add three items to their sourcing routine when contracting for post-December-2026 delivery into the EU: first, confirm that the supplier has a documented EUDR compliance process; second, request a sample due-diligence statement and geolocation reference sheet as part of the pre-shipment documentation package; and third, agree on the allocation of compliance costs and risk in the sales contract itself, since traceability investments and potential delays are new variables that did not exist under the previous regulatory framework.
Looking ahead
The EUDR is likely to set a precedent. Other markets, including the United Kingdom and the United States, have signaled interest in similar deforestation-due-diligence requirements. Exporters and buyers who invest in robust traceability systems now will benefit not only from EU compliance but from a competitive advantage as regulatory expectations broaden globally. At Dong Hai Agri, our EUDR readiness program is active: we are working with our farming partners in the Central Highlands to build the geolocation and documentation chain that post-2026 shipments will require.
Talk to our compliance team about EUDR-ready coffee supply.
Sources: European Commission (EUDR), Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), ICO monthly reports.
Tags: Buyer Knowledge | Market | Coffee | EUDR