High prices unlikely to dull global thirst for coffee
The price of coffee on the commodity markets has reached highs not seen since 1972 and chances are that they could stick.
With supply struggling to catch up with high demand, the chief of global beverage research at Euromonitor, Richard Haffner, told this publication: “It looks like the price could stay up for 2 years.”
But Haffner said the price situation is only really likely to make a difference “around the margins”.
New more price sensitive markets in Asia and Africa, which big coffee houses like Starbucks are trying to conquer, could see a slowdown but elsewhere the analyst does not expect any fireworks.
“Prices are unlikely to make as much as a difference as you’d think. Look at the recession - coffee was hurt a bit but not that much, consumption held up pretty well.”
Global coffee sales forecast
Indeed new research from Euromonitor predicts higher growth over the five years from 2010 than the five preceding years. In constant value terms, coffee is tipped to grow globally by 19 per cent to 2015 whereas in the five years running up to 2010 the category grew 14 per cent.
Explaining why, Haffner pointed in the direction of premiumisation.
In the US, Starbucks has played a key role in the movement towards premium. Haffner said: “Starbucks introduced a premium taste that wasn’t there before – it did a really good job of bringing that into the market.”
And in Western Europe coffee pods have done particularly well – contributing to global value growth.
Another major driver has been newer traditional tea markets like Russia, Eastern Europe and China. Here instant coffees have proved successful - offering convenience without the low quality image that has come to affect their position in developed markets.
