Following the coffee BRIC road
From the November 2014 issue.
Although BRIC nations may have lost some economic limelight, coffee consumption remains centre stage in an industry looking for growth, Maya Wallengren reports.
BRIC India coffee market report Russia China It’s hard to find topics that investors like better than a product or market that over performs.
The coffee industry’s resilience to economic strife is a popular topic that falls in this space.
From the global financial crisis, to a slowdown in China’s economic growth, coffee lovers continue drinking up, keeping the industry afloat when many think it should be sinking.
So, when in early 2014 analysts like Rabobank warned that the global beverage market would suffer from a slowdown in BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), the warning may have fallen on deaf ears.
As the year ends, coffee consumption is growing just fine, and even BRIC markets seem to be in great shape.
Analysts were right that overall economic growth in the BRIC group has slowed down. However, coffee consumption is growing, with the four markets together consuming close to 30 million 60-kilogram bags.
“Brazil continues to see coffee consumption growing at between 3 – 3.5 per cent a year. Despite the slowdown reported in the beginning of the year, we are still looking at adding at least 700,000 bags in new consumption a year in Brazil for the time being,” says Carlos Brando, an international consultant who has advised the International Coffee Organization (ICO) and the World Bank on consumption trends for the past decade.
In BRIC countries, as well as in major producer nations, coffee is especially popular among the younger generation. It remains a status symbol for the rapidly expanding middle class, says Brando.
Coffee’s popularity, coupled with higher household income in the new middle class across emerging coffee markets, means that more people than ever are now buying coffee.
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My name is Maja and I’m a Danish born woman crazy beyond passionate about everything coffee. I have written about all aspects of coffee for over 25 years from 60 coffee producing countries across the world.
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