India, Russia, China getting hooked to coffee

Coffee consumption in India, Russia and China, traditionally considered to be tea lovers, is going up with the younger generation getting hooked to the beverage that whole world has long addiction to.

While in India, the consumption of coffee has jumped from 60,000 tonnes about one and half years ago to the present 70,000 tonnes, Russians, especially the youngsters were preferring coffee to tea, according to Managing Director of the company that is the largest coffee plantation company in Asia.

Coffee consumption in Russia is growing at the rate of 15 per cent year-by-year. About 5000 tonnes of instant coffee was sold in Russia last year, he said. China is also slowly shifting to coffee like India and Russia, he claimed.

Tata coffee, India's second largest exporter of instant coffee, sends the product also to countries in Europe, Asia and North America.

Ashraff said instant coffee exports of the company had grown rapidly over the last few years with export volumes, turnover and profits increasing by almost 50 per cent every year. TCL produces about 10,000 tonnes of coffee annually in its own estates.