‘Winners and losers’: The world of coffee is being reordered by EU laws to stop cutting of forests

By ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL
Associated Press

BUON MA THUOT, Vietnam (AP) — New European Union rules aimed at protecting dwindling forests are reordering how the world gets its coffee. Experts say the rules requiring companies to provide more detailed evidence that the coffee they sell is not linked to deforestation will create new winners and losers. That might help curb the logging that is the second-biggest source of carbon emissions. But it also may exclude small farmers — roughly 6 million worldwide — who might not be able to provide the potentially expensive data. Some countries, like Vietnam, started preparing for the changes early and are better placed. Others, like Ethiopia, may lose out to countries where bigger players dominate.