Nestle SA have been planning to tap the
world’s most populous nations – Bharat and China –for high consumption of
coffee and growth of coffee market, according to the global head of strategy.
“We have a really strong footprint in
Asia and we are really bullish about those markets that have very low per
capita consumption,” Nestle’s coffee strategic business unit head Philipp
Navratil said in an interview in Vietnam’s Dak Lak province.
“China is really a big focus, and India
is a big focus.”
Nestle’s presence in Asia includes
instant coffee operations in Vietnam, which is the world’s biggest producer of
robusta beans. Futures for the variety in London surged to a record earlier
this year on concerns around tightening supply, and the onset of El Niño is
expected to bring drier conditions in growing areas.
Navratil said the Philippines and
Thailand are key markets for the Swiss maker of Nespresso and Nescafe,
including for soluble and ready-to-drink products. He added that Pakistan and
Africa are other regions for consumption growth.
“In India, China, sub-Saharan Africa,
there’s 4 billion people that drink less than 20 cups per year” on average,
Navratil said.
There’s an opportunity “to really build
coffee markets out of those huge populations,” he said.
Agency
