UAE gulps twice as much coffee as other GCC states

UAE residents consume an average of 3.5 kg of coffee and tea beverages each year, nearly twice as much as in any other GCC country, making it one of the fastest growing markets by volume for coffee in the world, it was reported Sunday.

According to coffee statistics from the International Coffee Organisation (ICO), about 1.4bn cups of coffee are poured per day, with the Arab world one of the fastest growing markets in the world.

“Even when times are hard, people still drink coffee. And the growth in coffee consumption these days occurs much more in emerging markets, which are bearing up much better under this economic turbulence than in the developed world,” said Jose Settee, head of operations at the ICO.

People in the UAE already drink nearly twice as much coffee as anywhere else in the GCC and consumption levels are set to continue to grow at around 12 percent per annum until 2014.

Nespresso, the single-portion coffee brand owned by Nestlé, recently said the Middle East is “its future” and is looking to grow its business outside Europe, its CEO told Arabian Business.

The firm said in February it planned to launch internet sales in the UAE by the beginning of the second quarter and will expand its number of boutiques across the region.

“[The Middle East]; it’s the future. Nespresso is still a Western European [company] because of the coffee culture in Italy and France, but clearly the brand has the potential to be worldwide. This region is one of the key [markets] for the future; we believe there is huge potential for this region,” Richard Girardot said.

“Our strategy is [to expand in] cities where there are two habits; the habit to appreciate the coffee and the habit of shopping. Clearly this region has a habit of shopping, so here we have to develop,” he added.

Sales of single-portion coffee have increased significantly in the last five years as global companies such as Nestlé, Kraft and Starbucks look to tap the growing demand for convenient coffee. Single-portion coffeemakes up an estimated eight percent of total worldwide coffee sales, but is expected to double in the next few years.

Nespresso, the global leader of single-portion coffee with a 35 percent market share globally, said it will launch a regional sales website. “We are very close to launching [internet operations] in the region,” said Jean Marc Dragoli, market director for Nespresso, Middle East, Africa and Caribbean.

“Our consumers will then have a third channel; the possibility to go in the boutique, call the call centre or to go through the internet. The UAE is a very important market for us [so we’ll start there],” he added.

The Switzerland-based firm also said it planned to expand the number of boutiques, but declined to say by how many.