Chart of the day: A global middle class drinks coffee

FT story on how producing countries (mostly Gap) and emerging markets (mostly New Core) are driving an expansion in coffee consumption globally.  

Coffee demand globally is described by one expert as being at a "turning point":

Demand in western Europe and the US is nearing a plateau, while consumption in emerging markets is rising strongly, particularly in coffee-producing countries.

Brazil is considered the exemplar of the trend, and as readers of this blog will note, I've posted in the past about its rapidly expanding middle class and the stunning growth in food consumption there (both more volume and moving up the caloric chain).

Tea is kind of weird:  both high- and low-brow, meaning the rich love their tea and the poor depend on it in much of the world. But the middle class likes its coffee - its stimulus package every ayem.

Good news for producers.

Comments

[stuart abrams]

I think it is essential that America break its addiction to foreign coffee. This is a major national security issue. Brazil holds us hostage. Imagine the chaos that would ensue if Starbucks customers could not get their lattes because of a Brazilian boycott. We need a crash program to start growing coffee trees in the Bronx.

[Michael Griffin]

Not before we get started on chocolate independence!!