São Paulo – A study issued last week by the Dubai Chamber identified leading potential target markets for re-exports of coffee imported by the United Arab Emirates. Qatar, Kazakhstan, Greenland, Lithuania, Latvia and Austria are pointed out as countries whose imports of the product increased from 2006 to 2011. These are also markets in which most importers paid higher prices for imported coffee.
" The study suggests that these markets have significant potential for UAE coffee traders because they are those where the annual value of imports is worth millions of dollars and they are located in Central and Northern Europe, which according to the International Coffee Organisation (ICO) have high per capita consumption of coffee,” Dubai Chamber.
The document also suggests the opening of stores to sell coffee and related products in these countries, as a means to help UAE re-exporters increase their market share. " These measures could help the UAE become the hub for coffee trading for the emerging markets of the Middle East and North Africa region, South Asia and Africa," according to the statement.
According to the report, domestic consumption of coffee has also increase over the last few years in the United Arab Emirates as well. The number of coffee shops in the country has gone from 118, in 2008, to 160, in June 2012, and the number of companies which sell the product leaped from 99, in 2008, to 112, in mid-2012. "Dubai’s evolution as an important re-exporter of coffee has also resulted in a consistent year on year increase in the number of coffee trading companies."
Brazil, Italy, Switzerland and Germany are pointed out as major suppliers of coffee to the Emirates in 2011. "According to the ICO the top three countries with the most exportable surplus in the world in crop years 2011/2012 included Brazil, Vietnam and Colombia. In the future these countries with large exportable surpluses could also be analysed for their potential to supply the UAE with quality coffee for domestic use and re-exports," the document concludes.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
