Coffee consumption in India may increase

Washington, July 17: Coffee consumption may increase by more than 25 percent in the next three years in India, Indonesia and Mexico, according to the International Coffee Organization (ICO).

These countries, which are among the world's six largest coffee exporters, may replicate the success of a similar advertising campaign in Brazil, to boost its sales in India, Mexico and Indonesia, the London-based inter-governmental body of coffee exporting and importing countries said in its website. The 10-year-old Brazilian campaign has doubled consumption in the world's biggest exporter to 16 million bags, it said.

The ICO is now working with the governments and institutions in India, Indonesia and Mexico to do something similar, as these three countries are traditional coffee-producing nations without a strong coffee-drinking culture''.

The ICO, which is funded by its member countries, wants to promote coffee drinking in those countries to balance supply and demand. By curbing the amount of beans exported, it plans to lessen the extent of price swings. The campaigns in India, Indonesia and Mexico are slated to start in September.

India, the world's second-fastest growing economy with a population of over 1 billion, consumed 1.3 million bags of coffee last year, while its farmers produced 4.4 million bags, according to US Department of Agriculture figures. The US, the largest coffee consumer, used 20.8 million bags in 2004, according to ICO data.

Coffee is one of the world's largest traded commodities produced in more than 60 countries, providing a livelihood for some 25,000,000 coffee farming families around the world. Many of these countries are heavily dependent on coffee, which can account for over 75 per cent of their total export earnings.

Among consumers, coffee is a universally popular drink, with over 70 billion dollars in retail sales a year. ICO exporting Members account for over 97 per cent of world coffee production and its importing members are responsible for 80 per cent of world coffee consumption.

Indonesia's 245 million-strong population used 2 million bags, while the country produced 6.75 million bags. Mexico, with 107 million people, consumed 1.5 million bags and produced 4 million bags.

Global consumption may rise to 145 million bags from 120 million bags within 10 years even without efforts to boost demand.

The importance of coffee in the world economy also cannot be overstated. It is one of the most valuable primary products in world trade, in many years second in value only to oil as a source of foreign exchange to developing countries.

Its cultivation, processing, trading, transportation and marketing provide employment for millions of people worldwide. Coffee is crucial to the economies and politics of many developing countries; for many of the world's Least Developed Countries, exports of coffee account for a substantial part of their foreign exchange earnings in some cases over 80 per cent. Coffee is a traded commodity on major futures and commodity exchanges, most importantly in London and New York.

UNI