In 2011 calendar year, the world coffee consumption grew marginally by 8.27 million tonnes (MT), as per the report compiled by International Coffee Organisation (ICO). The high retail prices and economic turbulences in some major importing countries led to the tepid consumption of coffee.
The worldwide consumption of the beverage rose by only 0.6% to 137.9 million bags (8.27 million tonnes) last year (for 2011 calendar year) from 137.1 million bags of 60 kg each (8.23 million tonnes) in 2010.
Besides, this growth rate (for 2011 calendar year) in coffee consumption is much lower compared to that achieved in 2010 where the coffee consumption rose by 3.5% and stood at 137.1 million bags compared to 132.5 million bags in 2009.
Further, Finland recorded the highest increase in retail prices of coffee between 2010-2011, a rise of 36.8%, followed by Latvia, the US and Sweden which showed a jump of 38.5%, 32.9% and 26.4% respectively. On the other hand, the lowest increases were observed in Germany (2.3%), Portugal (3.5%), Japan (4.5%), Spain (7.6%), France (8.9%) and Bulgaria (9.4%).
However, the overall consumption of coffee does not appear to be adversely affected despite retail prices increasing in many countries.