More business brewing for UAE coffee market

The UAE’s coffee market is expected to grow by over 30% in the next four years, as the country’s trading hub emerges as a key supply cog in the global coffee supply chain, according to F&B online resource Zagat.

With domestic demand continuing an upward surge, evidenced by over 4,000 tea and coffee houses now operating in the country, and 82% of the population saying they drink coffee each day, the UAE is increasingly seen as both a growing consumer and re-export market for coffee beans and refined finished product.

In 2014, the UAE spent $121 million on coffee consumption. Euromonitor International says the country sits at the centre of a region that now accounts for 8%, or US$6.5 billion, of the US $85 billion global consumer spend on coffee – and that this could increase by up to a third by 2030.

The forecast comes as no surprise to Trixie LohMirmand, senior vice president, exhibitions & events management, Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), which is witnessing huge space demand from suppliers, traders and roaster and finished product equipment manufacturers at Gulfood.

The 21st edition of the world’s largest annual food and hospitality trade show runs from  February 21-25.

“Coffee is more than just a drink in the Middle East; it is an inherent part of the culture, a leisure pastime and business pre-requisite.

"Add to this the region’s rising population and the UAE’s anticipated hospitality boom in the run-up to Expo 2020 Dubai and the growth landscape is obvious.

“Other shifting trade patterns are now also coming into the equation with new growers, such as Angola, gaining ground and revitalisation predicted for countries such as Yemen. A scenario for evolving trade development is emerging and we expect to see more signs of it at Gulfood 2016.”

Of the 70 coffee producing countries worldwide, major exporters Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia, Columbia, Ethiopia, India and Mexico will be present at Gulfood 2016. In addition to buyer delegations from the world’s two largest traditional importers – the US and Japan – attending the show, Gulfood will welcome more than 200 specialist coffee manufacturing, trading, roasting and packaging companies from around the world.

Coffee sector exhibitors range from the UAE’s Karam and other emerging markets players from the MENA region, South Asia and Africa, to household heavyweights Lavazza and Illycaffé (illy) from Italy.

Gulfood is expected to attract more than 85,000 visitors from more than 170 countries, including international heads of state, ministers, government officials and national trade associations from five continents.