A 20ft container holds 275 to 320 bags of green coffee at 60 kg each, which works out to roughly 16.5 to 19.2 metric tonnes. Most Indonesian exporters plan on 300 bags, or 18 MT. That is the short answer, and it is the number to use when you build your first landed cost model.
What the number does not tell you is which bag format actually earns its space inside the container, or why the jute sack you are picturing needs a plastic liner inside it. This guide covers both: the container math, and the packaging decision that determines whether the coffee arrives tasting the way it cupped at origin.
Last updated: July 2026
How Many Bags of Green Coffee Fit in a 20ft Container?
A 20ft dry container, written as 20ft or TEU, is the standard unit of green coffee freight. Its capacity is limited by volume, not by weight.
| Specification | 20ft Dry Container |
|---|---|
| Internal dimensions | 5.89 m x 2.33 m x 2.39 m |
| Cubic capacity | ~33 m³ |
| Tare weight | ~2,200 kg |
| Maximum payload | 28,200 kg |
| Green coffee stowage factor | 1.6 to 1.8 m³ per tonne |
| Realistic green coffee load | 16.5 to 19.2 MT |
Green coffee cubes out long before it weighs out. At 300 bags of 60 kg, an 18 MT load already consumes about 31.5 m³ of the container’s 33 m³. You will still be more than 10 tonnes under the legal payload ceiling of 28,200 kg. Nobody fills a coffee container to its weight limit.
Two figures circulate online that will wreck your model if you use them. The first claims a 20ft holds under 6 MT of green coffee, derived from a loose density of 180 kg/m³. Bagged green coffee stows at roughly 555 to 625 kg/m³. That estimate is wrong by a factor of three.
The second is 320 bags. It is achievable, but only with tight floor-loading and no pallets. Plan on 295 and you will not be disappointed. Palletising costs you around 25 bags per 20ft container, so most origins including Belawan floor-load by default.
Bag Sizes and How Many Fit: 60 kg, 30 kg, Jumbo, and Bulk
Bag format changes how many units go into a 20ft container, and in the case of jumbo bags, it changes the total tonnage you can ship. Here is what each format delivers.
| Bag Format | Unit Weight | Units per 20ft | Total Payload | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jute sack (ISC standard) | 60 kg | 275 to 320 | 16.5 to 19.2 MT | Floor-loaded. Industry default. |
| Jute or PP sack | 30 kg | 560 to 640 | 16.8 to 19.2 MT | Same tonnage, double the handling. |
| Jumbo bag (FIBC) | 600 to 800 kg | 16 to 24 | 13 to 15 MT | Void loss of 20%+. Hard to double-stack. |
| Bulk container liner | Single liner | 1 | ~21 MT | Highest payload. No lot separation. |
Which is most effective depends on what you are optimising. On pure freight economics, a bulk container liner wins outright. It carries around 21 MT against 18 MT bagged, a payload gain of roughly 17% that translates into about 15% lower freight cost per kilo. The catch is total: everything in that container is one homogeneous lot, you need a discharge facility at destination, and no roaster can separate a microlot from it. Bulk liners suit commercial-grade Robusta, not Grade 1 Specialty Arabica.
Jumbo bags are the format that surprises first-time importers. A 600 to 800 kg FIBC sounds efficient, and it is efficient to handle with a forklift. Inside a container it is not. FIBCs do not tessellate, they leave void space between and above the bags, and they cannot always be double-stacked safely. You lose 3 to 5 tonnes of payload against ordinary sacks. Unless your destination warehouse is built around forklifts and has no manual handling at all, the freight penalty is not worth it.
30 kg bags ship the same tonnage as 60 kg bags, because coffee cubes out either way. They cost more in bag material and roughly double the labour on both ends. They make sense for one specific case: split lots, where a single container carries several origins or several roasters’ orders and you want smaller, more divisible units.
The 60 kg jute sack remains the default at Indonesia Specialty Coffee for a reason. It stows tightly, it is manually handleable, it divides cleanly into lots, and every warehouse from Belawan to Rotterdam is set up for it.
Sizing your first container? See current per-MT rates on the ISC wholesale pricelist, or contact our export team for a quote against a specific origin and vessel.
Do You Need GrainPro or Ecotact? What Hermetic Liners Do
A jute sack is not barrier packaging. Jute breathes, which is exactly the problem. Green coffee is hygroscopic, so inside a bare jute sack the beans will exchange moisture with whatever air surrounds them for the entire 28 to 35 day transit from Belawan to Northern Europe.
A hermetic liner sits inside the jute sack and stops that exchange. Two products dominate specialty coffee.
GrainPro SuperGrainBag is a multi-layer high-barrier bag with a woven exterior. It is the high end of the market: the strongest moisture and oxygen barrier, reusable, and the format most roasters expect on a specialty invoice.
Ecotact is a polyethylene and polyamide laminate. Its barrier performance is a step below GrainPro in extreme humidity, but it is lighter, cheaper, and made with biodegradable film. For predictable routes and storage windows under twelve months it performs comparably.
| Packaging | Moisture Barrier | Best For | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jute sack only | None | Domestic sale, fast turnover under 60 days | Coffee equilibrates with ambient humidity |
| Jute + Ecotact liner | Mid to high | Standard specialty export, storage under 12 months | Lower barrier than GrainPro in extreme humidity |
| Jute + GrainPro liner | High | Long storage, humid routes, microlots, Grade 1 lots | Highest cost per bag |
| Bulk container liner | Low to moderate | Commercial-grade volume | No lot separation, needs discharge facility |
This matters more for Indonesian coffee than for most origins. Gayo Arabica ships semi-washed or full-washed, and in both cases wet-hulled (Giling Basah), meaning the parchment came off at 35 to 40% moisture before final drying. The resulting bean structure is more porous than a conventionally dry-hulled washed coffee from Bali Kintamani or Java. It gains and loses ambient moisture faster. Wet-hulled origins need the liner more, not less.
Cost Per Bag: Jute, GrainPro, and Ecotact Compared
Packaging cost is where most first-time importers guess, then over-correct. The real figures are smaller than people fear.
| Component | Cost per 60 kg Unit | Cost per kg | Per 300-Bag Container |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jute sack alone | $0.60 to $0.85 | $0.010 to $0.014 | $180 to $255 |
| Ecotact liner | $2.00 to $4.00 | $0.033 to $0.067 | $600 to $1,200 |
| GrainPro SuperGrainBag | $2.50 to $6.50 | $0.042 to $0.108 | $750 to $1,950 |
| Jute + Ecotact | $2.60 to $4.85 | $0.043 to $0.081 | $780 to $1,455 |
| Jute + GrainPro | $3.10 to $7.35 | $0.052 to $0.123 | $930 to $2,205 |
Now put that against the cargo. A 300-bag container of Grade 1 Indonesian Arabica carries a cargo value comfortably above $100,000 FOB Belawan. Lining every bag with GrainPro adds at most $2,205, or about 2% of cargo value. Ecotact lands closer to 1.3%.
Two SCA points lost in transit will cost you more than that on a single container. A Grade 1 Specialty lot cupping 85 points at origin and 82 points on arrival has not just lost quality, it has lost the price bracket you bought it for. The liner is the cheapest insurance in the entire shipment.
What Happens If You Skip the Liner
Nothing, for about four months. That is what makes this decision so easy to get wrong.
Bare jute performs fine on arrival cupping. The damage is cumulative. Inside a container crossing the equator, interior temperature swings between roughly 20°C at night and 50°C in direct sun. Warm air holds moisture, cold steel does not, and the water condenses on the container roof and runs back down onto the top layer of bags. Shippers call it container rain. Over 30 days at sea, unlined coffee absorbs and sheds moisture repeatedly. Water activity climbs, and above 0.65 aw you are in mould and ochratoxin territory.
Here is what you actually see. The coffee lands clean. It cups clean. Somewhere around month four the dry fragrance thins out first, then the acidity flattens, and by month six the cup reads baggy and woody. Roasters usually blame their roast profile. It was the packaging.
One practical note that costs importers real money and rarely gets mentioned: bag hooks. Dock and warehouse crews hook jute sacks by reflex. A hook through jute is harmless. A hook through a GrainPro or Ecotact liner destroys the barrier completely, and nobody discovers it until the container is opened at destination. If you are paying for liners, write no-hook handling into your contract and tell your receiving warehouse before the vessel arrives.
We hold lots at origin until moisture content stabilises at or below 12.5%. Sealing a wet-hulled Gayo lot into a hermetic liner at 13.5% traps that water with nowhere to go, and a liner will preserve a defect just as faithfully as it preserves quality.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many 60 kg bags of coffee fit in a 20ft container?
A 20ft container holds 275 to 320 bags of 60 kg green coffee, most commonly 300 bags. Floor-loading achieves the higher figure. Palletising costs roughly 25 bags per container. Plan your landed cost model on 295 bags to leave margin for stowage variation.
How many tons of green coffee are in a 20ft container?
A 20ft container carries 16.5 to 19.2 metric tonnes of bagged green coffee, typically 18 MT. Bulk container liners raise this to about 21 MT. The container’s 28,200 kg payload limit is never reached, because green coffee fills the available 33 m³ of volume first.
Is GrainPro or Ecotact better for green coffee?
GrainPro offers the higher moisture and oxygen barrier and suits long storage, humid routes, and Grade 1 specialty lots. Ecotact costs less, uses biodegradable film, and performs comparably for storage windows under twelve months in predictable climates. Both far outperform bare jute.
How much does a GrainPro bag cost?
A GrainPro SuperGrainBag liner sized for a 60 kg sack costs roughly $2.50 to $6.50 per unit, depending on order volume. At 300 bags, lining a full 20ft container costs $750 to $1,950, which is around 2% of the cargo value of a specialty-grade Arabica container.
What happens to green coffee shipped in jute bags only?
Green coffee in unlined jute exchanges moisture with the surrounding air for the entire transit. Water activity rises, and quality degrades on a delay. The coffee cups clean on arrival, then loses dry fragrance around month four and reads baggy and woody by month six.
Order a Container of Indonesian Green Coffee from Indonesia Specialty Coffee
Indonesia Specialty Coffee is a direct exporter based in Medan, North Sumatra, shipping FOB Belawan. We ship Grade 1 Specialty only, cupping 82 to 88 SCA points against SCA protocol and graded to SNI 01-2907-2008. Every lot is Halal certified, with Organic and Rainforest Alliance available on request.
We source directly from smallholder partner farms across Aceh Tengah, Bener Meriah, and Gayo Lues, as well as Bali, Toraja, Flores, Java, and Lampung. Our standard export packaging is the 60 kg jute sack with a hermetic liner, and we will quote GrainPro or Ecotact against your storage plan rather than defaulting you to the expensive option.
Container loads start at 9 MT and are quoted per metric tonne. Below that we ship 1 kg samples, 60 kg microlots, and 350 kg standard wholesale.
See current rates on the ISC wholesale pricelist, browse Indonesian green coffee beans by origin, or contact our export team with your target volume, origin, and destination port. We will come back with a container quote and a stowage plan. Samples are available before you commit to a vessel.
