Global consumption of coffee is likely to climb 1 to 2 percent a year through the end of the decade, International Coffee Organization executive director Vanusia Nogueira said, estimating that about 25 million more 60kg bags would be needed over the next eight years.
“We are more conservative now for a short-term projection,” Nogueira said at a conference in Hanoi held by the Vietnam Coffee-Cocoa Association, referring to all the events the world is facing, including high inflation in Europe and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The organization’s earlier forecasts for consumption growth averaging 3.3 percent a year over the long term were too “optimistic,” she added.
Photo: Bloomberg
The global market would reach a balance in supply and demand in the next two or three years, from a deficit now, Nogueira said in a Bloomberg interview.
The world needs more of arabica and robusta beans, but increases in robusta production and demand would be higher, she said.
Traditional arabica producers are trying to grow more robusta amid global warming, while roasters are seeking to add cheaper robusta to their blends.
“If you have robusta with higher quality, consumers won’t feel a big difference in the blends,” Nogueira said.
Many markets are looking for fine robusta, she said.
Vietnam is doing its homework on expanding to high-quality robusta production “quite well,” Nogueira said, adding that she was surprised to taste three sets of “very good” cups of coffee during a visit a day earlier with a group of international guests to a coffee shop owned by the nation’s second-largest exporter, Vinh Hiep Co.
The group does not see Vietnam’s global dominance of robusta exports being hurt by Brazil’s increased production of conilon, because the extra output would go to supplying the South American country’s soluble industry, the world’s largest, Nogueira said.
Producing nations need to boost domestic consumption for better prices and benefits to their economies, she said.
Vietnam expects domestic coffee consumption to rise 5 to 10 percent in the coming years, from the current 300,000 tonnes, which includes 170,000 tonnes used for instant coffee production, Do Ha Nam, vice head of the country’s coffee association, said at the conference.
Nam, who is also chairman of the nation’s top shipper Intimex Group, projected that shipments from Vietnam would drop this year and next year because of lower production and insignificant carry-over stocks from the previous season.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that its investment plan in Arizona is going according to schedule, following a local media report claiming that the company is planning to break ground on its third wafer fab in the US in June. In a statement, TSMC said it does not comment on market speculation, but that its investments in Arizona are proceeding well. TSMC is investing more than US$65 billion in Arizona to build three advanced wafer fabs. The first one has started production using the 4-nanometer (nm) process, while the second one would start mass production using the
‘SILVER LINING’: Although the news caused TSMC to fall on the local market, an analyst said that as tariffs are not set to go into effect until April, there is still time for negotiations US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he would likely impose tariffs on semiconductor, automobile and pharmaceutical imports of about 25 percent, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2 in a move that would represent a dramatic widening of the US leader’s trade war. “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club when asked about his plan for auto tariffs. Asked about similar levies on pharmaceutical drugs and semiconductors, the president said that “it’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll
When an apartment comes up for rent in Germany’s big cities, hundreds of prospective tenants often queue down the street to view it, but the acute shortage of affordable housing is getting scant attention ahead of today’s snap general election. “Housing is one of the main problems for people, but nobody talks about it, nobody takes it seriously,” said Andreas Ibel, president of Build Europe, an association representing housing developers. Migration and the sluggish economy top the list of voters’ concerns, but analysts say housing policy fails to break through as returns on investment take time to register, making the
CHIP BOOM: Revenue for the semiconductor industry is set to reach US$1 trillion by 2032, opening up opportunities for the chip pacakging and testing company, it said ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s largest provider of outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) services, yesterday launched a new advanced manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia, aiming to meet growing demand for emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The US$300 million facility is a critical step in expanding ASE’s global footprint, offering an alternative for customers from the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea and China to assemble and test chips outside of Taiwan amid efforts to diversify supply chains. The plant, the company’s fifth in Malaysia, is part of a strategic expansion plan that would more than triple
RSS