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India is becoming a manufacturing hub for instant coffee after Brazil and Peru, said Y Raghuramulu, Director of Research, Coffee Board.
In his presentation on coffee at the 124th UPASI annual conference here, he said the country is doing extremely well on the export front
The total volume of export between April and August this year stood at 1.78-lakh tonnes, up from 1.63-lakh tonnes in the corresponding period the previous year.
The country has moved from bulk exports to value-added coffee exports, he said. “We are consistently importing more for re-export. Imports are mainly for value-addition and re-exports by EOUs with duty free under FTP.”
Import volumes during 2015-16 stood at 65,618 tonnes and the re-export volume at 67,283 tonnes. This surged to 78,042 tonnes and 79,254 tonnes the following year. Value-wise, the imports were estimated at ₹927 crore (₹802 crore) in 2016-17 and re-export at ₹ 1,346 crore against ₹1,147 crore in the previous year.
Green coffee exports account for 70 per cent of the total export volume, with specialty green coffee exports inching its way from 3.20 per cent between April and August last year to 3.80 per cent during the corresponding months of this year. Value-added coffee exports have stagnated at around 25 per cent.
Reverting to production, Raghuramulu said: “USDA has forecast India’s production at 3.3-lakh tonnes, but the Coffee Board is yet to release the estimate for 2017-18. The board is in consultation with various associations for finalising the estimates. We do not want to release as in earlier years and come out with a revision.”
The board has undertaken a couple of fresh initiatives, such as the revamping of India Coffee House, brand ambassadors to promote Indian coffee and organising outreach programmes.
“We are looking to franchise at least 10,000 vending machines in the medium-term. Our initiatives will indirectly benefit small coffee growers. We have also initiated discussions with small growers to form producer organisations to help them achieve better returns.”
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