São Paulo – The United Arab Emirates is one of the target markets of Brazil. The Coffee Nation, a project designed to foster exports of Brazilian specialty coffees. The project is coordinated by the Brazilian Specialty Coffees Association (BSCA) and by the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil).
BSCA president Adolfo Ferreira said this is the first time the project targets the Gulf country since its inception in 2008. “We had a meeting with Apex-Brasil and our members, and the UAE was one of the chosen countries for our roast coffee export actions,” the executive says.
“A market survey showed that the UAE’s roast coffee market is expanding. It’s an interesting market for roast coffees; that’s why it was chosen as a target,” Ferreira points out. This is also the first year industrially-processed coffees become a part of the project, which used to work only on raw specialty coffee exports.
Besides the UAE, priority targets for sale of roast and ground coffee include the United States, China, and Germany. Raw specialty coffee export targets include the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Germany and Australia.
The budget for the BSCA/Apex-Brazil project renewal is BRL 7.9 million (USD 2.3 million). The cash will be spent on attending major industry events and on holding tasting sessions and business matchmaking events, among other actions. The activities in each target country will be agreed upon by the organizers and participating exporters in early July.
As per information from the BSCA, what makes a specialty coffee includes properties and attributes such as a coffee’s body, flavor, sweetness and acidity, and grains are graded on a zero-to-100 scale based on criteria set by the official chart of the Cup of Excellence (CoE), the world’s premier coffee quality. Samples graded 85 or above are deemed specialty coffees.
The first export to the United Arab Emirates on record by companies affiliated with Brazil. The Coffee Nation dates from 2010. In that year, Brazilian companies shipped USD 1,081 worth of coffee to that country. In the five years through 2015, Brazilian coffee producers shipped USD 20,265 worth of raw specialty coffees to the Arab country. The UAE ranks 59th in the Brazilian raw specialty coffee export ranking.
“Coffee consumption is on the rise in the UAE, and the outlook is for even further growth,” says Ferreira. According to the BSCA president, several participating companies already attend Gulfood, the Middle East’s biggest food industry expo, held annually in Dubai. “While there, they have sensed a potential for growth,” he points out. At this time, the Brazil. The Coffee Nation project has 150 members who represent 50,000 coffee producers.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum