Ali Al-Ibrahim, founder and CEO of COFE, an online coffee marketplace, confirmed that the global coffee market, which is worth $150 billion today, will grow tenfold over the next five years, despite the problem of drought, disruption of supply chains, and recent high coffee prices.
In an interview with Al Arabiya, he said that since the beginning of 2019, the market witnessed major deals, including the Starbucks and Nestle deal that exceeded $7 billion, and the Coca-Cola and Costa deal of more than $5 billion, in addition to the acquisition of JAB Holding, the largest coffee merchant in world, on Panera over $7 billion.
With regard to the Saudi market, he pointed out that the Kingdom is one of the countries with the highest consumption of coffee, and consumption is expected to reach 28 thousand tons annually, noting that the local market is growing significantly.
He said that the Saudi market currently produces about 300 tons of coffee, referring to the launch of the Public Investment Fund The Saudi Coffee Company Which seeks to invest about 1.2 billion riyals in the coffee sector in the Kingdom, with the aim of raising production to 2500 tons.
On the other hand, he pointed out that the sector provides an opportunity because its profit margins are high, even with the increase in coffee prices, as the Arabica type increased by about 80%, but the increase in prices in cafes was slight.