International Coffee Day

On the international coffee day

On the initiative of the International Coffee Organization (ICO) the proposal that each year 1 October would be celebrated as the International Coffee Day was accepted in 2014. This year the International Coffee Day will be celebrated for the second time. The very first International Coffee Day was organized last year as a part of the exposition Expo 2015 in Milan, Italy. The first global coffee forum also took place then, whose goal was to promote coffee and further strengthen the cooperation between the coffee producer countries and the coffee consumer countries.

Coffee in Slovenia

Coffee is an integral part in life of many people, including Slovenians. According to the latest available data, a household member in Slovenia consumed on average 3.5 kilograms of coffee (coffee or coffee substitutes) in 2012. Coffee consumption is increasing; in 2000 a household member in Slovenia consumed on average 3.1 kilograms.

In 2015 the average price of one kilogram of roasted ground coffee in Slovenia was EUR 8.0, and of a cup of black coffee EUR 1.2. Since 2003 the price of both increased, the former by 12.5% and the latter by 69.0%.

Coffee is directly and indirectly linked also with Slovenian companies. According to the Statistical Business Register 35 companies in Slovenia were engaged in processing of tea and coffee in 2014 (SCA 10.830). In the field of wholesale of coffee, tea, cocoa and spices there were 64 companies in 2014 (SCA 46.370). Coffee is also closely linked with cafes; in 2014 there were 312 sweetshops and coffee-houses (SCA 56.103) and 3,474 companies engaged in beverage serving activities (SCA 56.300).

Coffee in  the international market

According to the European Coffee Federation (ECF) most of the coffee in the international markets is produced in Brazil, Vietnam and Indonesia. The EU Member States don’t have the natural conditions needed for coffee production, but they are among the biggest consumers of coffee and consequently also among the major importers.

The EU Member States imported EUR 14.3 billion of coffee in 2015; imports from Non-EU Member States (Exstrastat) amounted to EUR 8.9 billion, while the imports from EU Member States (Intrastat) amounted to EUR 5.4 billion.

Slovenia imported EUR 45.5 million of coffee or 12,648 tons in 2015. In value terms, most of the imports came from Brazil (34.6% of total imports) and Italy (28.6% of total imports). Other important countries from which Slovenia imported coffee were Colombia (8.2% of total imports) and India (6.9% of total imports). The value of coffee imports has been increasing; in 2015 it increased by 20.9% compared to the previous year.

Slovenia has also exported some coffee in 2015. Slovenia’s exports of coffee amounted to EUR 14.4 million or 2,826 tons. Most of the coffee was exported to Croatia (57.9%) and Italy (10.4%).