Tata Coffee which runs an instant coffee unit in Theni, TN, an export unit, will see an expansion in capacity from 6,500 tonnes a year to 8,500 tonnes, said Mr Hameed Huq, Managing Director.

The expansion, said Mr Deepak Kumar, ED, Finance, will be complete by March 2013 and is being done at an investment of Rs 55 crore.

The company exports instant coffee to branded coffee makers in Japan, Russia, South East Asia and to the CIS countries.

Higher prices

Mr Huq said the year gone by had been good for producers as Arabica prices had reached a 34-year high.

This year, while Arabica prices have come off their highs, prices of Robusta parchment coffee have gone up by almost 30 per cent. Tata Coffee is a large producer of this variety of coffee and is expected to benefit from higher prices. Tata Coffee has a total of 22,800 hectares under coffee cultivation.

This year, global production of coffee should be balanced, as output in Colombia is lower even as production in Brazil and Vietnam will be higher, said Mr Huq. Prices will rule firm.

In the first quarter of this year, Tata Coffee more than doubled its net profit to Rs 31.84 crore while revenues went up by 24 per cent to Rs 413.73 crore.

Consumption pattern

Mr Huq said Indian coffee consumption has more than doubled in ten years, from 55,000 tonnes a year to 120,000 tonnes. “But in spite of more than doubling, the per capita consumption is still low.”

The presence of many international brands of coffee as well as local chain Café Coffee Day’s efforts have contributed to more coffee being glugged. “But to push coffee drinking habits up north, we need more small entrepreneurs to start coffee roasting outlets, as in the south,” he said.

vinaykamath@thehindu.co.in

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