Soluble coffee innovates, production grows, and the product consolidates new positions in the market. The share of this beverage in the total of coffee exported worldwide rose to 10% in February this year, according to data released by the ICO (International Coffee Organization), this Tuesday (5th).
Domestically, soluble coffee has also reached another level, with a consistent increase in recent years, according to Aguinaldo Lima, director of Institutional Relations at Abics (Brazilian Association of the Soluble Coffee Industry).
In February, the most recent ICO data available, world trade in soluble coffee reached 1.46 million bags, 65% above the volume of the same month in 2021.
In the first five months of this harvest —from October 2021 to February 2022—, soluble coffee exports corresponded to 5.71 million bags, 22% more than in the same previous period.
Brazil has been recording consistent growth, with national consumption reaching 1 million bags.
The country has even been the driving force behind this increase in exports in the world, according to the ICO. In fact, data from Secex (Secretariat of Foreign Trade) indicate that Brazil exported the corresponding US$ 102 million in the first two months of this year in soluble coffee, 36% more than last year.
In bags, exports totaled 612 thousand in the two-month period, 5% more. In the last 12 months through February, foreign sales of soluble coffee corresponded to 4.1 million bags, 12% of the total volume of green coffee exported by Brazil in the period.
For Lima, from Abics, the country has been achieving good growth in the domestic market and gaining space in the more than one hundred countries that import the Brazilian product. Domestic production grows and new industries are joining the market.
There is, however, a question mark in the coming months. Russia and Ukraine are on the list of the main importing countries of the Brazilian product.
In 2021, Russians were second on the list, and Ukrainians, fifth. Together, they imported the equivalent of US$ 69 million, 14% of the US$ 493 million in foreign exchange earned by the country.
In the first two months of this year, the share of Russia and Ukraine in Brazilian exports is even higher, reaching 16%, according to Secex data.
These two countries may be missed, says Lima. Despite the current scenario of war in Eastern Europe, the director of Abics believes that exports in the first quarter of this year have surpassed those of the same period in 2021. The data will be released later this week.
The United States leads soluble coffee imports from Brazil. In 2021, they left US$ 92.4 million of foreign exchange in the country. Russia followed, with US$ 47.1 million. Also at the top of this list are Japan, Indonesia and Ukraine.
Lima believes in an evolution of soluble coffee consumption in Brazil. In the country, soluble coffee represents 5% of national consumption. In the foreign market, it is 27%.
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