Melitta key account manager international Falko Pluckebaum believes the market is full of innovation at the moment. Melitta key account manager international Falko Pluckebaum believes the market is full of innovation at the moment.

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Booming beans

Coffee sales in the UAE alone are expected to reach US $97.74 million (AED 359 million) by 2016, growing at the rate of 4%.

These figures are certainly healthy, but through constant dealings with coffee traders and coffee growing associations around the world, it may be realistic to say that the growth rate may potentially be higher predominantly due to the demand over the last two years, Godinho asserts.

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“We will be exposed to more accurate findings over the next two to three months, which should depict a clearer picture of coffee growth expectations for this year, and by 2018, year on year,” he adds.

Kalwani agrees and says she thinks “it has more to do with the expected rise in population in the UAE” than any other factor.

Plückebaum confirms Melitta has certainly witnessed a surge in the number of full automatic machines being sold, while Wade says Coffee Planet enjoyed more than a 30% growth in sales during 2013 and that trend is continuing into 2014. “Coffee is a relatively recession proof business,” he adds.

A recent report highlighted the UAE’s recent economic development helped to create several new points of entry for higher quality coffees, according to Bunn’s Hijazi.

Surprisingly, growth was driven primarily through the on-trade channel, which continued to reap dividends of the emerging café culture, he adds.