Illegal instant coffee shipment seized in Malaysia
After it emerged last week that you might be drinking twigs, dirt and other bits and bobs with your coffee every morning, it turns out that there is indeed a very real risk of buying fake coffee.
Over the weekend the Malaysian Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry has shut down an operation that was distributing fake instant coffee in South East Asia.
According to reports emanating from the Malaysian press, the ministry’s enforcement chief, Suhami Mat Sari, announced that around 40,000 sachets of imitation Tongkat Ali coffee (which features an alluring and inviting hint of ginseng, so we’ve been told) from a number of premises late on Friday.
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Growers in the Ivory Coast set to receive new coffee trees from Nestle
Coffee farmers in the Ivory Coast will soon be receiving a batch of disease-resistant plants as part of an initiative to increase Robusta production in the country.
Led by Nestle, the world’s biggest maker and marketer of coffee in the world, it is hoped that levels of robusta will rise in West Africa by around 40% in a six year period.
…continue reading Growers in the Ivory Coast set to receive new coffee trees from Nestle
Vietnam Proves an Instant Coffee Attraction
Following a number of major investments in the production of instant coffee, the Vietnamese coffee industry appears to have been suitably stirred up, according to a local newspaper.
Earlier in September 2010, a CCL Products Group affiliate and one of India’s largest coffee processing businesses, Ngon Coffee Company Limited, started the development of its new plant in the province of Dak Dak, situated within the country’s Central Highland region. The move marks the province’s first foreign investments in the area’s instant coffee processing and is expected to source all raw materials locally. The project is valued at US$18 million and is expected to cover 24 hectares of land once complete.
The company’s new factory, which will reportedly have the capacity of churning out 10,000 tonnes of quality instant coffee, is expected to be up and running in July 2011, generating revenues of a predicted US$27 million during its first year and increase this figure to US$40.5 million by 2014, according to the plant’s general director, Challa Srishant.
Meanwhile Alan Kaisar, director of the US National Coffee Association’s External Relations and Communications, revealed that a number of key industry operators in the US have demonstrated interest in Vietnamese coffee and to enter the market in the future.
In terms of other investments to date, in April this year Singaporean firm Olam International, an international supply chain player in the agricultural arena, opened its US$50 million soluble coffee processing facility in the province of Long An. Initially expected to produce 4,000 tonnes per year, output was predicted to double by 2012, with an additional investment of US$20 million.
Instant Hit for Soluble Coffee Brand
Via, the instant coffee brand unveiled by a Starbucks just last year, has already hit the US$100 million mark in only 10 months of its availability, according to reports.
Starbucks launched its instant coffee offering to an apparently sceptical investment community in September 2009, but the product’s rapid uptake and speed of sales have put Via amongst the only 3 per cent of American retail products that reached value sales over US$50 million in their first year.
Having seen its iced based beverage, viewed as its most successful launch to the consumer market, take three years to reach the US$100 million point, the instant coffee performance is particularly spectacular by comparison.
The majority of sales so far have reportedly been generated by the coffee chain’s US market, despite this geography not being quite as in favour of soluble coffee as its European and Asian counterparts. At present Via is also available in the UK, Canada and Japan, with plans to extend distribution to China within the next year, as well as to an additional as of yet unnamed market in the near future.
In other coffee news, exports from India, the world’s fifth most significant producer, rose by 46 per cent to 224,075 tonnes for the ten month period between 1 October 2009 and 2 August 2010 compared with the same period of the previous year. Robusta coffee, which accounts for 70per cent of the country’s coffee output, is generally blended with Arabica beans for a more most-efficient alternative for brewed coffee, or used to produce instant coffee.
Retailers see drop in instant coffee as consumers favour the filtered variety
Recent sales figures provided by market research company Mintel, have shown that over the last few years there has been a rise in the market share for filtered coffee and that, for the first time ever, the sales of filtered coffee have exceeded those of the instant variety.
The figures produced by Mintel show that filtered coffee sales have increased by a significant 49% during the last five years, whilst the sale of instant coffee has dropped by 36% over the same period. Sales of filtered coffee exceeded £149 million in the UK compared to £140 million generated from instant sales.
Ben Perkins, of Mintel, commented: “Whilst once British consumers were happy to settle with a bog standard cup of instant, today the traditional cup of coffee has become increasingly sophisticated as roast, ground, instant premium and super-premium are being sought after more frequently by core users than in previous years . . .the issue with the younger end of the market is that these consumers don’t drink instant coffee”.
It has been argued that a rise in coffee shop culture is the main driver behind consumers taking a greater pride in their home coffee-making. This is a significant trend, particularly taking into account the recent economic climate and the fact that instant coffee is, more often than not, the cheaper option.
It just goes to show that as far as coffee is concerned, variety and quality are factors for which consumers are willing to pay that little bit extra.