World coffee consumption to touch 128 million bags in ’08

Jaishankar Jayaramiah
Originally Posted Sep 22, 2008 at 2258 hrs IST

World coffee consumption, both in producing and exporting countries, is likely to touch 128 million bags (60-kg per bag) in 2008.

According to recent statistics released by the International Coffee Organisation (ICO), the preliminary estimation of world coffee consumption in the calendar year 2007 stood at around 124.7 million bags, up by 2.9% from 121.1 million bags consumed in 2006.

"If current growth continues, world consumption could increase to around 128 million bags in 2008," said Nestor Osario, executive director of ICO in his latest statement.

Producing countries like India, Brazil, Mexico and importing countries like Spain, UK and Netherlands attributed to the growth in world coffee consumption in the last five years.

The consumption in India surged to 13.6 lakh bags in 2007 from 11.42 lakh bags in 2003, while Brazil's consumption increased to 169 lakh bags from 140 lakh bags and consumption in Mexico increased to 20.5 lakh bags from 15 lakh bags. Among importing countries, consumption in Spain increased to 31.98 lakh bags from 27.40 lakh bags in the same period, while the UK's consumption surged to 28.24 lakh bags from 22.36 lakh bags, while consumption in Netherlands climbed to 23.60 lakh bags from 17.43 lakh bags. Coffee consumption in Canada also increased significantly to 35.35 lakh bags from 21.46 lakh bags.

Among exporting countries, per capita coffee consumption stood high in Brazil with 5.29 kilograms (kgs), followed by Costa Rica at 4.21 kgs, Honduras at 2.43 kgs, Dominican Republic at 2.32 kgs and Haiti at 2.13 kgs. Among importing countries, Luxembourg maintained high per capita consumption at 16.65 kgs, followed by Finland at 12.01 kgs and Norway at 9.85 kgs.