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Why did Brazil remain the leader of coffee producers for more than 150 years?

Published: 2026-02-25 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2026/02/25, Today, Brazil grows about 1/3 of the world's coffee trees, and used to have as much as 80 per cent of the global coffee market. Coffee was introduced from French Guiana in 1727 when Brazil was still under Portuguese rule. Brazil's first coffee was grown by Francisco de Melo Palheta, a Brazilian official from the Portuguese dependency, in the Para district of northern Brazil. Legend has it that Palheta was in charge of diplomacy

Today, Brazil grows about 1/3 of the world's coffee trees, and used to have as much as 80 per cent of the global coffee market. Coffee was introduced from French Guiana in 1727 when Brazil was still under Portuguese rule. Brazil's first coffee was grown by Francisco de Melo Palheta, a Brazilian official from the Portuguese dependency, in the Para district of northern Brazil. Legend has it that Palheta went to French Guiana on a diplomatic mission and charmed the wife of the local governor. when she left, the wife of the governor sent a bouquet with coffee seeds in it. After returning home, the coffee trees he planted may be limited to drinking at home and are not important crops. It was not until coffee cultivation began to spread southward, from coffee gardens to coffee farms, that the commercial scale of coffee cultivation began on the Paraiba River near Rio de Janeiro. Here is very suitable for growing coffee, on the one hand, the geographical environment is ideal, on the other hand, because of its proximity to Rio de Janeiro, it is conducive to export. Unlike other small coffee farms in Central America, the original commercial coffee farms in Brazil were very large, with slave labor as the labor force. This form of industrial production is very rare in other countries and can be said to belong exclusively to Brazilian coffee production. This approach is extremely aggressive: the most powerful and persuasive may win property rights disputes with unclear boundaries. Each slave also had to take care of 4, 000 coffee trees. Once the soil is too depleted, the whole farm is moved to a new area to be replanted.

Coffee production began to flourish between 1820 and 1830, and production exceeded the needs of Brazil's domestic market and was able to supply foreign markets. The businessmen who control coffee production have become so rich and powerful that they are called "coffee lords" (coffee barons). Any of their needs will have a significant impact on government policy and its support for the coffee industry.

By 1830, Brazil produced 30% of the world's coffee, rising to 40% in 1840. Such a sharp rise has also led to a decline in global coffee prices. Until the mid-19th century, Brazil's coffee industry relied on slaves. More than 1.5 million slaves were brought to Brazil to work in coffee plantations. After the British government banned Brazil from importing African slaves in 1850, Brazil began to turn to immigrants or its own slave trade. When slavery was completely abolished in Brazil in 1888, it was feared that the coffee industry would collapse, but coffee harvesting continued smoothly that year and after.