Coffee packaging in Ethiopia: boxes, cartons and export shippers

The three layers of coffee packaging

The bag keeps the coffee fresh: jute or lined sacks for green coffee, and foil or valve pouches for roasted coffee. Around it, a printed box presents the coffee on a shelf or as a gift. Around those, a corrugated shipping carton protects them in transport, stacking and export. Each layer comes from a different kind of supplier. Bags and valve pouches are flexible packaging; boxes and cartons are paper and board. Eastern Dragon makes the boxes and cartons, sized around the bag you already use.

Retail and gift boxes for roasted coffee

More Ethiopian coffee is roasted and branded at home than before, and a printed box is often what makes a local roaster’s coffee stand out. Offset-printed colour boxes on duplex board give sharp colour and fine text for the brand, origin, roast and weight. Gift boxes for holidays and corporate orders are made the same way. Send your bag size and your artwork, and approve a proof before production.

Shipping and export cartons for coffee

Coffee is Ethiopia’s largest export: about 3 billion US dollars in 2025/26 according to the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority, more than 30% of all export earnings. Cartons carrying retail coffee abroad travel the same way as other exports, by road or rail to Djibouti and on by sea, so they need board chosen for weight, stacking and humidity, and the marks your buyer asks for.

How to order coffee boxes and cartons

Most of what a box maker needs to quote comes from the bag you already use.

1. Send the size of your bag when it is full, and how many bags go in each box or carton.
2. Send your artwork, or tell us what should be printed.
3. Say where the cartons go: shops in Ethiopia, or export.
4. Approve a proof and a sample before the full run.