Page 52 - #53 English

Culture

$43,800 for Kuwait, $28,300 for Bahrain and $28,500 for
Oman,” said the report, adding that led by Dubai the region is
eying increased potential as a hub for re-exporting coffee to
other markets in the Middle East. That statement is supported
by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The UAE was between 2005 and 2008 one of the
world’s five biggest coffee re-exporting nations countries, ac-
cording to the UAE Ministry of Foreign Trade, and coffee is
“becoming a more important commodity for the UAE not only
for domestic consumption as the population grows but as a lu-
crative commodity for re-exports,” the Chamber of Commerce
said in its report.
From the ancient tradition of coffee drinking to the
most modern of modern times, the Swiss king of capsules Nes-
presso is getting ready to take on the top-niche market for one
of the most expensive luxury products in coffee today.
Earlier this year Nespresso launched internet sales in
the UAE and is expanding the number of its exclusive boutiques
Oldest Style Middle East Coffee Preparation Of Bedouin across the region, combining “the habit to appreciate the coffee
and the habit of shopping,” Nespresso CEO Richard Girardot
Coffee drinking in the Middle East is as colorful and told the Arabian Business daily in an interview.
exotic as the ancient spice trading route that first brought cof- “The Middle East is the future. This region is one of the
fee out of Etiopia to Dubai on its way to the ruling elite of the key markets for the future; we believe there is huge potential for
Ottoman Empire in Istanbul. In Dubai the older generation still this region,” said Girardot.
prefers to take their coffee with Bedouins brewing the coffee in
their tents on oriental rugs while in Jordan - which also is home
to a large population that originated from the Bedouins - one of
the most popular ways for locals to take their coffee is finding
the street vendors in the capital of Amman. The younger gen-
eration, however, has quickly embraced modern coffee culture
and is in rapidly increasingly numbers.
“In Jordan, like most of the Middle East, the market is
dominated by Turkish style coffee. But the new generation, and
especially the university students, prefers to go to Starbucks
where they can spend hours with free Wifi and one coffee and
sit there all day long working on their papers and research,”
said Abdallah Khirfan, Development Manager for Amman-
based coffee traders and roasters. He said modern-style cof-
fee, however, only makes up for about 15 percent of the total
coffee consumer in Jordan today while at least 60 percent of
the market is “Turkish style” which is significantly cheaper in
its preparation. More importantly is that coffee has expanded
by over 50 percent in the last 5 years alone and that growth is
expected to continue.
“In 2010 coffee consumption in Jordan was 19,000
metric tons (317,000 bags) and in 2013 the volume had in-
creased to 27,860 tons (464,333 bags). In the next three years
along, by the 2017-18 crop year, it is expected that coffee de-
mand in Jordan will consume not less than 50,000 tons of coffee
(833,333 bags),” Khirfan told CTI.
Such growth rates may sound too optimistic to some in
the market. But according to the USDA’s 2014 Exporter Guide
for the UAE market, the Gulf Cooperation Council countries of
UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar represents Maja Wallengren (middle) has been writing about coffee for
a group of relatively small nations with a total population of more than 20 years and has specialized in coffee during her
about 17.5 million but with high per capita income. travels as a reporter to 45 coffee producing countries across
“Per capita income in each country is relatively high, Southeast Asia, East and West Africa and Latin America. She
estimated in 2012 at $102,000 for Qatar, $49,000 for UAE, may be reached at: mwallengren@outlook.com.
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