Faced with increasing competition in their traditional markets, mainly Italy, India's coffee exporters have begun to eye speciality and niche segments to realise better value, industry officials said. | |
| Italy accounted for 40,000 tonne of Indian coffee annually and it has been growing at the rate of 15 per cent in the past five years. But an aggressive Vietnam has narrowed down the price parity with 'desi' exports substantially. |
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"We were getting a premium of around $450 a tonne over Vietnamese coffee but it has come down to less than $200," President of Coffee Exporters Association Ramesh Rajah said.
| OVERSEAS BOUNTY | | Destination | Quantity
(tonne) | % to total
unit | Value
Rs/tonne | | Italy | 53,393 | 26.50 | 68,496 | | Russia | 29432.00 | 14.61 | 77551.00 | | Germany | 16742.00 | 8.31 | 88049.00 | | Belgium | 11190.00 | 5.55 | 75707.00 | | Spain | 10292.00 | 5.11 | 61536.00 | | Slovenia | 7458.00 | 3.70 | 55597.00 | | Ukraine | 6,920.00 | 3.43 | 88024.00 | | Greece | 4392.00 | 2.18 | 59579.00 | | Finland | 4245.00 | 2.11 | 78884.00 | | Japan | 4147.00 | 2.06 | 89886.00 | | France | 3811.00 | 1.89 | 70191.00 |
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| India is estimated to account for four per cent of the world's coffee production, ranking seventh globally. It shipped 2.4 lakh tonne in the calendar year 2006. Over 70 per cent of country's coffee production is exported. |
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| Rajah said addressing speciality segment and niche markets would be key for domestic coffee exporters to realise better value. |
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