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Bid to woo back traditional buyers; set to explore new markets

Vishwanath Kulkarni

Bangalore, July 18 In a bid to woo back traditional markets like Russia, the Coffee Board is brewing a fresh promotional strategy.

Simultaneously, it is exploring newer markets in China, Japan, Australia and the US.

India’s coffee exports to the Russian Federation have been on the decline over past several years.

From a peak of 48,131 tonnes in 1996-97, coffee exports to Russia hit a 10-year low of 26,520 tonnes in 2006-07.

Better product mix has enabled Western European countries to grab India’s market share in Russia.

“We have a big challenge in maintaining our exports to Russia,” said the Minister of State for Commerce, Mr Jairam Ramesh.

“We don’t have the presence of large Indian brands in Russia. Unless large brands and exporters invest in Russia, we have a challenge there.”

Further, Mr Ramesh, the Tea Board officials in Moscow have been asked to help the Coffee Board in understanding the Russian market and carry out promotional activities.

Under the market access initiative (MAI), the Coffee Board has been helping exporters like Hindustan Unilever and JKF International by subsidising the promotion of their own brands in Russia, according to Mr G.V. Krishna Rau, Chairman.

“We hope to rope in more companies for the MAI programme,” he added.

The Coffee Board plans to undertake regular promotional activities in Russia.

The idea is to maintain the country’s export balance and be visible with promotional efforts.

“We will be participating in the World Food Moscow in September this year,” Mr Rau said. Further, the Coffee Board has identified four new thrust markets in the US, Japan, Australia and China, where it sees major potential to boost exports.

Coffee exports to US stood at 4,185 tonnes in 2006-07, while exports to Japan stood at 4,644 tonnes, Australia at 3,369 tonnes and to China at 794 tonnes.

“In the next five years, we could double our market penetration in these four countries,” Mr Ramesh said.

Coffee exports during 2006-07 earned $450 million, up from $350 million in the previous year.

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