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 tonnes 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.
“We were getting a premium of around $450 per tonne over Vietnamese coffee, but it has come down to less than $ 200,” President of India’s Coffee Exporters Association Ramesh Rajah told PTI here. India is estimated to account for four per cent of the world’s coffee production, ranking seventh globally. It shipped 2.4 lakh tonnes in the calendar year 2006. Over 70 per cent of India’s coffee production is exported.
Read More at: The Hindu
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