In May 2025, the USDA analysis — echoed by Daily Coffee News — sketched a 2025/26 cycle of 597,000 bags of 60 kilos, 6.4% more than the previous one. Exports were estimated at around 583,000 bags. The rebound rested on better weather after the year of downpours. The report did not varnish the rest: aging coffee farms, tight margins, and little credit still hold back a full recovery.

Alongside those nuances appeared a figure that matters to the specialty buyer as much as the bag: more than 230 farms and 34 mills with Rainforest Alliance certification, plus programs such as C.A.F.E. Practices, Fairtrade, and UTZ. Salvadoran shade-grown coffee is not a brochure slogan. It is a landscape: native trees, migratory birds, covered soil, water that does not run off in the first rain.

Why certification adds to the cup

A well-managed canopy moderates temperature, lengthens ripening, and protects from winds. In Apaneca or in Cacahuatique, that translates into clearer acidity and denser beans. The seal, moreover, opens doors in supermarkets and roasteries that require environmental traceability. It does not replace the SCA score; it accompanies it. An 88-point Pacamara with shade and certification is, for many menus, easier to tell than an anonymous 89-point coffee.

The United States remained the top destination (47% in 2024/25), followed by Belgium, Italy, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Japan. The map is the usual one, with a new accent: the buyer wants to know how the coffee was grown, not only how it scores.

The right expectation

El Salvador is not going to flood the world with bags. It is going to offer, if the park is renewed, more good coffee under trees. That is an attractive promise: drinking an origin that is still a forest. Anyone who discovers the country through sustainability is not disappointed in the cup. On the contrary: shade and sweetness often go together.