Coffee market reaches 100m euros

The 20% excise cut for coffee effective January 1, 2005, will lead to an average decline of 5% in the packaged coffee price and will help consumption pick up, said Stephan Warley, chairman of the Romanian Coffee Association (ARC) and chief executive of Kraft Foods, which imports and produces the Jacobs and Nova Brasilia brands. At present, Romania sees the lowest coffee consumption per capita of all European countries. “How much the coffee price drops depends on the coffee types, given that excises account for 10% to more than 20% of the price,” Warley said. Kraft Foods is the second-largest player on the Romanian market with its Jacobs brand, which it imports, as well as makes in Bucharest, and with the Nova Brasilia brand. The leading player on the market, which accounts for more than 50% of it, is Elite Romania that has a factory in Bucharest and employs 500 people. Other producers or importers are Alka Co (Alka), Nestle (Nescafe), Tchibo Romania (Tchibo), Panfoods (Amigo) and Romaqua (Metropolitan). ZF