Table of contents
Before starting the coffeebridge journey we have never really been aware of how big the coffee industry is. We enjoyed (and still do) the social aspects of drinking coffee with friends and family. Having good conversations, laughing, enjoying. Social coffee.
We felt good buying coffee which was labeled as “Fair Trade” or “Organic” without questioning it further. Fair coffee.
As coffee beans travel a long way before being stocked in our stores, it seemed important to buy a product with good quality and low environmental impact. Sustainable coffee.
The power of now.
Now we know that it is not that easy.
Now we are questioning the fair coffee labels and marketing ads.
Now is the time to rethink and transparently share the true process.
We are going to introduce you to some important facts stressing the need for real fair coffee. Our blog posts will be kept rather brief. Small nuggets of information. Our own experience. On our coffeebridge journey. A journey beginning with the question, why the coffee business is so unfair. And how to do better. Social coffee. Fair coffee. Sustainable coffee.
How many cups of coffee do you drink per day?
Even now it is difficult to grasp. We needed to read this twice. And break it down. The per capita coffee consumption in Germany totalled around 167 litres in the year of 2023. With 52 calender weeks in 2023, this makes about 3.2 litres coffee per week. So about 0.5 litre of coffee per day. This is how many cups? All day, every day. 365 days a year. Sums up to an average consumption of 4.8 kg of coffee beans per person per year. And guess what - Germany was only taking the 10th place in 2023's ranking of the per capita sales of coffee in selected countries worldwide.
What is more important to you - good quality or low prices?
Coffee is the fair trade product with the highest sales on the German market. Coffee is by far the most popular hot drink in Germany. The demand is high, higher, highest. And due to its tremendous demand, coffee is one of the most valuable agricultural commodities in world trade. Where consumers demand good quality. Fair trade lables. Sustainability certificates. Low prices.
More than 15 million soccer fields of coffee cultivation land worldwide.
Let’s travel to the countries which are farming the coffee. The Supply side. The eleven million hectares of coffee cultivation land worldwide (as of 2021). This is more than 15 million soccer fields. Brazil being the leading coffee growing country, followed by Indonesia and the Ivory Coast. Just to compare sizes - one soccer field is the size of 0.714 hectares. Germany’s land size fits around 50 million soccer fields (35.7 million hactares).
Brazil as the coffee export country No. 1
With over 400 000 tonnes (or 400 million kg) being delivered from Brazil to Germany every year Brazil is the most important importer of coffee for the German market - and actually worldwide!
The volume of exports of coffee worldwide has increased from 2011 until now. Statista has published the total projected trading volume of coffee in the 2023/24 crop year: It is around 146.1 million bags of coffee (60 kilograms each) worldwide. Or 8766 million kg coffee. 2300 million kg of which was exported from Brasil to all coffee-loving nations in 2021.
The coffee economy is a giant.
Enough of the facs for now. We hope you have received a little feeling for the gigantic size of the coffee market. More insights on Ugandas export market will follow.
