Coffee Board of India today said coffee consumption in the country has been growing at the rate of five to six per cent in the last five years.
"In developed countries consumption is very high- it is more than 4-5 kg per capita per year. The highest consumption is in Finland it is about 12 kgs per capita per year. In most countries in Europe and northern America consumption is very high," Board Chairman Jawaid Akhtar told reporters.
"In the second category there are quite a few coffee growing countries that have been able to push their consumption upwards," he added.
Speaking to reporters to announce the India International Coffee Festival- 2014, to be held here from January 21 to 25, Akhtar said that "according to ICO- for the past 4-5 years the world consumption used to be of the order of 2.4 per cent, but in 2012 the world consumption was 2.8 per cent."
On India's consumption,he said it (per capita consumption) is quite low- about 90 grams per capita per year... Very broadly in last 5-6 years coffee consumption in India is growing at the rate of 5-6 per cent and the retail sector is growing at the rate of 15 per cent."
In 2002, consumption was of the order of 60 or 70 grams, which has increased to 90 grams now, he added.
To a question on low per capita consumption figures for India, he said India's total consumption divided by population is very low as the population is huge and almost two third of the population does not primarily drink coffee. Therefore this statistic is bound to be low."
On India's production this year Akhtar said at the post blossom stage crop condition was extremely good, but that was followed by a dry period of about two months that led to the infestation of white stem borer, followed by very long period of heavy monsoon affecting Robusta more than the Arabica.
"All these factors combined together this year our production figure is 3.11 lakh tonnes (LT), about two per cent lesser than last year."
However Akhtar also said that for the last five years, it was satisfying that India had consistently grown more than three lakh tonnes of coffee. Earlier this figure was falling below 3 LT.
On the steps taken by the Board to increase production and consumption in the country, he said ".....As on today - out of all production, 75 per cent is exported and 25 per cent is consumed in the domestic market.Our strategy is to increase production in such a way that the share of exports remain at 75 per cent and at the same time we are able to fully cater to the domestic market."
Akhtar said the idea was to take action on two-three fronts -- one was to identify new areas where coffee can be cultivated and second to augment production in existing areas by augmenting productivity- to cater to future requirements.
