Each year GCR invites industry leaders to share their hopes, fears and expectations for the year ahead, in what is expected to be one of rejuvenation and unity for the global coffee market.
Everyone knows that the COVID-19 pandemic drastically impacted modern lifestyles, influencing consumers’ buying behaviour around the world. People learned to drink quality coffee at home, they sought more information about preparation methods, and everything indicates that they will continue to consume specialty coffees at home, despite the gradual return to face-to-face work.
There is a tendency to return to the routine of buying in coffee shops, but the consumption of quality coffees continues in both situations, at home and at work. Currently, there is also an interesting trend in the increase of buying high-quality soluble coffees. This category has generated much curiosity among consumers in diverse locations, for convenience as well as the quality of the experience. Just in Brazil, there has been a 3.7 per cent increase in the consumption of soluble coffees from January to August 2021 compared to the same period in 2020, equaling 669,797 60-kilogram bags.
There is also increasing growth in the commercialisation of whole bean coffees and there is increased interest in Canephora coffee. This is a market we can consider “virgin,” which shall provide many discoveries ahead and will gain increasingly more market share and presence in the cups of consumers around the world.
Due to the current pandemic scenario, there is a lack of containers and ships for export, which has delayed shipments abroad since March 2021. However, we believe that these logistical problems will be remedied in the medium-term.
The resiliency of Brazilian coffee producers is admirable and, even facing this challenging scenario, both in terms of climate matters as well as the logistical bottlenecks, Brazil continues to be the leading exporting country of the bean. In the period from January to October of 2021, Brazil exported 33.27 million bags of coffee to 119 countries. Nevertheless, considering the coffee value chain in its entirety, there is still not the expectation that 2022 will bring a return to pre-pandemic business profit levels. This recovery should be gradual and structured such that in 2023 the market returns to the mighty scenario of 2019.
This article was first published in the January/February 2022 edition of Global Coffee Report. Read more HERE.