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falling into recession by the fourth quarter of 2008. This growth
also comes amidst a still dominant tea drinking tradition in the
country,” said Euromonitor in a 2013 report. Despite that fact
that “more than 50% of the UAE’s population” hail from East Asia
and the Indian Subcontinent with a consumer base that favors tea
over coffee, the growth in coffee has primarily been driven by the
emerging café culture and rising per capital income.
“The country’s recent period of great economic devel-
opment helped to create several new points of entry for higher
quality coffees. Once the recession began to take hold, a shift in
consumer tastes had already begun, one that continues to drive
coffee purchases even as overall consumer expenditure has been
reigned in,” said Euromonitor in the report seen by CTI.
Since the earliest of times in coffee, the Middle East is
where coffee drinking as we know it today began. And since the
first cup of brewed coffee was enjoyed at least 600 years ago, cof-
fee consumption has been at the heart of Middle Eastern culture,
used as the standard welcome at hotels and at home. Today, this
part of history is thriving and industry officials believe this may
Khalid Al Mulla, a partner in the UAE company Easternmen & Co
be why the Middle East is bound to become one of the emerging
markets with highest growth potential in the next 10 years.
“The world market is growing at about 2.5 percent and “Coffee is such an important part of our culture here
coffee continues to be one of the strongest performing com- and it has such a deep-rooted history as it since centuries ago has
modities. But the Middle East as part of the emerging markets is been used as the way to welcome your guests, whether in your
growing at between 4 and 10 percent and Dubai in particular is home or at formal meetings,” said Al Mulla. “Go to any hotel in
growing at between 20 and 30 percent because of the expansion Dubai, and in the very most of them you will be welcomed with
in the number of cafes,” Khalid Al Mulla, a partner in the UAE an Arabic coffee as this is a symbol of hospitality and way of bid-
company Easternmen & Co, told CTI Magazine during a visit to ding visitors welcome.”
Dubai. Easternmen is one of the biggest roasters in the Middle The hotel industry is one that is attracting special
East and the company also recently opened the first Coffee Mu- attention from the coffee industry and for very good reasons:
seum in the Middle East, where tourists and coffee lovers alike Construction of new hotels are experiencing a boom of its
can learn about the history of coffee from seed to cup. own, as Dubai and the UAE is preparing to host the 2020 World
Figures and statistics are still scarce and hard to come Expo while neighboring Qatar will host the World Cup in
by, but in a fascinating development that indicates the growing 2022. This boom is not only benefitting the number of tourist
importance of the region, the U.S. Department of Agriculture last and business arrivals but is also expected to create a surge in
year started including a section on consumption in the Middle coffee consumption.
East in its annual world coffee report. “Dubai has always been an amazing market ever since
In the last 4 years Turkey has doubled green coffee im- we first started doing business here 12 years ago, but another
ports to 500,000 bags in the 2013-14 crop cycle from just 275,000 country that is amazing in the region here is Qatar which is very
bags in the 2009-10 cycle, according to the USDA. It estimated promising and will continue to be so at least until the World Cup
total consumption in the four core Middle Eastern countries of in 2022.,” said Remi Rouchon of French roasters Malongo Café
Iran, Jordan, Yemen and Turkey at 1.315 million bags. The data which distributes coffee to hotels across the Gulf region.
is still so new that the USDA offers no comparative figures. “By the end of 2014 Qatar will have 114 hotels with
Statistics from customs agencies, however, shows that a total of 18,000 rooms of which 8,000 rooms are 5-star hotels
consumption and coffee imports are present across the Middle but by the 2022 World Cup the target is to have a total of 80,000
East from Algeria and Morocco in the west, over the Northern rooms and coffee is the main beverage consumed at breakfast.
African markets of Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, across the Saudi So when you have a 600-room hotel you have at least 800 people
Arabian peninsula and Turkey to the Gulf Region. The region, having coffee every day on average and in a country where the
which includes over 15 countries, together boosts coffee con- main business is tourism, then coffee is a big thing,” Rouchon told
sumption of between 4.5 million and 5 million bags, customs CTI Magazine in an interview.
figures show. UAE residents currently consume an average 3.5
The London-based market intelligence firm Euromoni- kilogram of coffee per year, nearly double that of other Gulf
tor International Ltd said in a report last year that the UAE is “the countries, according to the international Coffee Organization.
fastest growing market for coffee in the world.” Euromonitor has Malongo’s Rouchon believes Qatar is headed in the same direc-
projected growth in total coffee volume sales at 80% between tion, along with other Gulf markets such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia
2009 and 2014, with average annual growth of 12 percent. and Jordan. Jordan, a market with a population of just over 8 mil-
“The United Arab Emirates represents the fastest grow- lion people with a long history of coffee drinking, is also seen as
ing market by volume for coffee in the world, despite the country one of the key coffee hubs in the future of the Middle East.
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