The three-day event, which is held in collaboration with the Specialty Coffee Association, will feature coffee companies and brands from countries, including the US, Germany, Canada, Slovakia, Portugal, Ireland, Kuwait, Norway, Taiwan, Thailand, Pakistan, Iran, and Australia, among many others. There are seven national pavilions participating, which is double the number from the previous edition, with a strong presence from India, Myanmar, Rwanda, Uganda, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and El Salvador.

Khalid Al Hammadi, senior vice president of DXB LIVE, commented, “We take great pride in gathering numerous nations, businesses, brands, experts, and specialists in the coffee industry at this exhibition. We are confident that this event will serve as a significant opportunity for exhibitors to showcase their innovative products, services, and pioneering projects in this dynamic industry. Additionally, it will also provide a productive forum for interaction between exhibitors and visitors from various parts of the globe to exchange valuable insights, expertise, and innovations in the coffee sector. By bringing together industry players, pioneers, influencers, and senior employees under one roof, we are committed to developing the exhibition and strengthening its reputation. We are on constant pursuits to enhance its key role as an active and influential player in the development of the coffee sector locally, regionally, and globally.” 

The World of Coffee 2024 has signed a strategic partnership agreement with DMCC – Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, the world’s flagship free zone and Government of Dubai Authority on commodities trade and enterprise – which, through its world-class facilities at DMCC Coffee Centre, provides a wide range of services for the entire coffee value chain, including temperature-controlled storage, value-add and commercial space, inbound/outbound logistics support, warehousing, roasting, packaging and distribution services. DMCC Coffee Centre will set up a dedicated Farmers Pavilion at the exhibition to provide farmers from different coffee-producing nations and regions with the opportunity to showcase and sell green coffee beans. The pavilion will serve to assist farmers in enhancing their presence in the global coffee market, in addition to allowing visitors to taste, choose and learn about coffee beans and their sources. Farmers and organisations from Rwanda, Colombia, Honduras, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Ethiopia will represent millions of farmers in the world’s coffee belt. DMCC Coffee Centre will be in charge of promoting the ‘Farmers Pavilion’ on all marketing channels through the Centre’s database. In addition, it will also host an informational campaign for visitors and exhibitors as well as invite experts and dignitaries to participate in this event. 

Saeed Al Suwaidi, director of Agri Commodities at DMCC, said, “We are confident that all of our key stakeholders across the coffee value chain will benefit from our strategic partnership with the World of Coffee. The Farmers Pavilion will further consolidate Dubai’s position as a major international hub for coffee trading and will serve as a platform to connect all relevant players in the coffee community, from farmers to traders and consumers, in line with our vision and objective to grow the local and global coffee business from Dubai. In particular, the pavilion will facilitate the exchange of skills and knowledge among individuals in the roasting field, help drive new business prospects, and improve the experience of both visitors and farmers by providing them with opportunities to sample and choose from the best kinds of green coffee beans. We believe that coffee is a universal language that connects people from around the world, and we look forward to enhancing global coffee trade by supporting the farmers’ pavilion.” 

The World of Coffee features a variety of events and activities. This includes the ‘UAE National Barista Championship’, the ‘National Latte Art Championship’, and the ‘Coffee Design Awards’ and ‘Best New Product competitions’, in addition to the main pavilions such as the Roasters Village and the Cabining Room and Brew Bar. The event will further entail a set of lectures and workshops. This will feature the presence of a group of associations specialised in the coffee industry, including the Brazilian Specialty Coffee Association, the Saudi Coffee Company, the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama, and the Uganda Coffee Development Authority.  

The presence of these associations holds significance owing to their role in enhancing quality and standards in coffee production, increasing trade and consumption of coffee, as well as representing and supporting the interests and rights of farmers, roasters, manufacturers, distributors, and consumers. Additionally, it would also foster cooperation and exchange of experiences between countries and regions producing and consuming coffee, as well as enhance awareness of its culture, history, benefits, types, and methods in preparing coffee. It will further promote innovation, development, and adoption of advanced technologies within the ever-evolving coffee industry. 

Over 1,650 global, regional, and local companies and brands will be participating in this exhibition to display their range of products and services related to the coffee industry, such as green and roasted coffee beans. Participating businesses will include those who provide roasting, packaging, and processing services in addition to those that supply coffee-manufacturing equipment, water, milk, and flavourings. These participants include 60 companies and brands from the UAE, like Three Coffee, Q Coffee, and Coffee Planet. Further, a total of 17 firms participating in the event, including Colombini Srl, Mazzer Luigi Spa, and Lelit Italy, are Italian brands and enterprises that will also be participating in the exhibition. Additionally, around nine firms and brands from the United States and eight companies from China will be participating in the exhibition.

The World of Coffee 2024 exhibition invites visitors to Zabeel Halls 4, 5, and 6 at the Dubai World Trade Centre, from 21 to 23 January 2024. Those who wish to participate and visit the exhibition can register via the following link: dubai.worldofcoffee.org/visitor-registration. 

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The key agenda of the event, which will held from 21-23 January 2024, includes various programmes namely, the Roaster Village, the Cup Room, and the Brew Bar. Additionally, the exhibition will feature spaces specifically designed to draw attention to the importance of promoting sustainable practices in the industry through several discussions, specialised workshops on sustainability, best practices for utilising resources, and sustainable initiatives that demonstrate the commitment of the international coffee community to responsible production.

The exhibition will also set the stage for the launch of various new events, like the Franchise Village, a platform that will bring together leading brands seeking to expand in the region and investors interested in establishing branches of renowned coffee brands.  The platform will reinforce the position of the World of Coffee as a key event for exploring growth and collaboration opportunities.

Among the exhibition’s features and programmes, the Buyers Program and Buyers Longue will enable meetings between buyers and farmers, traders, distributors, and roasters, as well as food and beverage managers from the tourism and hospitality sectors. It will further encourage interaction and communication among industry stakeholders and offer an ideal setting for potential partnerships and transactions.

In addition, the 2024 edition will be held in two large theatres to accommodate more participants for its series of dialogues and free workshops. One theatre will be dedicated to hosting specialised coffee association dialogues, while the other will be for unfiltered sessions, like hosting extensive dialogues with the presence of numerous global experts and specialists to discuss the latest trends, innovations, and products worldwide.

The Roasting Village, Cupping Room, and Brew Bar pavilions are also expanding to meet the growing demand for participation. The Roasters Village area is expected to be one of the most popular areas for attendees as it will exhibit coffee-making machines and water sources. The participating businesses will also make coffee and display their coffee beans. Along with specialised guests, it brings together a dozen global businesses and offers an opportunity to sample coffee that has been prepared and roasted in a variety of methods.

The ’Cupping Room’ pavilion will enable visitors to taste and compare different coffee varieties and evaluate their quality. During their one-hour sessions, each company will provide a set of coffee-tasting sessions for buyers and the public to try and compare. The Brew Bar pavilion, which is made up of two large platforms, can accommodate 12 enterprises. Businesses may utilise the platform for three hours to offer different coffee-tasting sessions and customers can wander between the businesses to sample the coffee and watch baristas creating inventive concoctions.

Innovation platform

To encourage innovation and development in the sector, the exhibition will feature the Coffee Design Award, which will highlight the latest advancements in coffee preparation, equipment, and sustainable practices. It will be awarded in various categories including design, packaging, branding, coffee cups, and coffee pots. Furthermore, the ‘Best New Product Award’ will be awarded for exceptional new coffee-related products. To participate in the awards, companies will have to submit their designs on the competition website, further enabling judges to choose winners. The exhibition offers a remarkable opportunity for participants to win the International Specialised Coffee Association’s award for the best design or best product worldwide for 2024.

Ensuring an enhanced experience for participants

Khalid Al Hammadi, senior vice president of DXB LIVE, said: “Through this edition, we aim to boost the position of World of Coffee Dubai to be the most preferred global platform for coffee industry leaders. We strongly believe the event will surpass the conventional trade show paradigm, securing its reputation as the world’s preeminent forum for enthusiasts, professionals, and experts to stay current on industry developments and explore novel strategies and ecologically sustainable practices that will further the industry’s expansion and sustainability.”

“The exhibition provides a significant opportunity to learn about the various sources of coffee beans, roasters, and coffee supply chain as well as to assess the latest advancements in the fields of packaging, distribution, and production. The events, especially the Buyers’ program, will improve participants’ experience and enable them to interact directly to grow and maintain their enterprises,” Al Hammadi added.

An ideal platform

The third edition of World of Coffee Dubai serves as an ideal platform for companies aiming to enhance their presence in the Middle East’s thriving coffee market. DXB Live organises this event to facilitate industry growth, innovation, and collaboration by bringing together distributors, farmers, producers, experts, and specialists under one roof. This fosters partnerships, showcases new products, and promotes knowledge exchange to meet the diverse needs of coffee industry players.

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For centuries, coffee was a key ingredient in the Arab World’s hospitality industry and now in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), visitors are driving a new coffee consumption trend that has given the hospitality sector a more commercial meaning.

Serving coffee in the Arab world, including in the UAE, has shifted from being a mere ceremonial act of generosity to a more meticulous latest technology-driven service with coffee consumption now dominated by modern international and regional coffee companies that have now taken over from the “sheikhs and heads of tribes, elderly Bedouin men and women and owners of coffee trading shops” as the region becomes more integrated into the modern global coffee market.

For the UAE, a confederation of seven Emirates in the Arabian Peninsula, positive growth has characterised the coffee market in recent years despite being jolted by the outbreak and subsequent spread of Covid-19 in early 2020. The pandemic did indeed put breaks on exports, imports and rising consumption levels of coffee in the UAE, thus impacting sales of products such as ground coffee, instant coffee, whole bean, coffee pod and capsules.

The UAE’s coffee market growth has been attributed to the expanding urbanisation, higher living standards and fast recovery of the country’s tourism and hospitality industies post Covid-19. There has been an increase in consumption of diverse coffee products such as hot drinks, ready-to-drink and flavoured beverages as well as export and import volumes especially during the post-Covid period according to statistics by UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

FAO estimates the UAE’s coffee consumption per capita across all the seven UAE emirates of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, and Fujairah at 0.890 kg in 2019, albeit a 15.2 percent decline from 2018 figures. However, the negative consumption levels were reversed in 2020 when the annual average rose to 1.5kg for each of the 9.9 million people in the UAE. This though was less than the 5.7kg, 5.2kg, 3.9kg, 3.9kg, 3.1kg and 2.7kg consumed in other Middle East markets of Lebanon, Qatar, Cyprus, Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan respectively according to Mohamad Merhi, managing partner and co-founder of Dubai-based specialty coffee roastery Cypher Urban.

On average, UAE coffee consumers could have drunk 14.8 million kilogrammes of coffee in 2020, an amount likely to rise on the back of Emirates’ rising per capita income, increasing tourist arrivals, expansion of the hospitality sector and preference for spending on non-alcoholic beverages across the Middle East.

Dubai offers a business friendly environment

The surge in per capita coffee consumption in the UAE coincides with an increase in coffee retail business, especially in Dubai, as franchise coffee chains and domestic coffee retailers take advantage of the conducive environment to set up coffee outlets.

According to the the UAE’s Business Registration and Licensing (BRL) sector in the Department of Economy and Tourism, Dubai, as of March 2022, had licensed 615 companies as coffee traders hence reinforcing the Emirate as a global trading hub for the commodity.

The coffee businesses include manufacturing, wholesale, and retail, import and re-export, as well as the retail of hot coffee in cafés and restaurants, ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee in grocery stores and retail outlets according to the report.

The report showed that the total number of licences issued during 2021 increased by 148 percent compared to 2020, when 69 licences were issued, compared to 171 licenses in 2021. UAE nationals topped the list of investors in the trading of coffee at 31 percent of the total followed by other nationalities such as British, Italian, Turkish, French, Egyptian, Jordanian, and Kuwaiti.

Dubai and Deira areas accounted for the largest share of the companies engaged in coffee trading with with 368 and 243 licences respectively. At least 64 percent of the coffee businesses in Dubai, the report says, are limited liability companies with a fast-growing number of Emirati companies engaging in the coffee trading. Some have even expanded to the global coffee market from the UAE according to the report including opening outlets in several countries via the services provided by Dubai Industries and Exports, an agency of Department of Economy and Tourism.

Elsewhere, the opening of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), the UAE’s largest free-trade zone located in the Jumeirah Lake Towers district of Dubai, in 2005 was a turning point for the UAE’s coffee trading as the facility has steadily transformed itself and Dubai into an international commodity trading hub.

“The tea and coffee industries are increasingly turning to DMCC because of its world-class facilities, which include superior logistical and processing support for all stages of the value chain, cutting out intermediaries to deliver increased value for farmers, producers, and consumers alike,” said DMCC in its first half of 2022 report.

In 2021, the 7,500m² temperature controlled DMCC Coffee Centre stored and processed more than 9,000 MT of both green and roasted coffee “from a broad range of producing markets across Central and Southern America, Asia and Africa.” DMCC said it “doubled its membership count, demonstrating the significant progress made by the Coffee Centre as a high-quality logistics and distribution hub.”

And in 2020, Dubai Customs reports show trade in coffee in the first half of the year grew 5 percent to AED 253m (USD $69 million) compared with AED 240m (USD $65 million) in the prior-year period with volumes traded increasing to 14,000 tonnes.

Furthermore, the FAO indicates the UAE imported more coffee than it exported for the three years to 2020 as domestic consumption spiked driven by the growing expat population, tourist numbers and a fast-emerging Western coffee consumption culture. Coffee exports reached 4383.35 tonnes in 2020 up from 2768.94 tonnes in 2018, a 58.3 percent increase according to the UN agency. The UAE imports coffee from origin markets before adding value and re-exporting the commodity to high-consuming markets.

The highest export volumes were between 2018 and 2019 when the UAE sold an additional 1199.85 tonnes more to the international market. However, in what could be an indicator of an increasing coffee consumption trend in the UAE, FAO figures indicate the seven emirates imported more of the commodity for the three years to 2020 when an estimated 6497.08 tonnes of coffee were purchased by the Emirates.

Coffee imports rise steadily

Coffee imports, just like the exports, showed an upward trend from 5246.73 tonnes in 2018 that increased steadily by 23.8 percent at the end of 2020. The highest increase in coffee imports into the UAE was between 2019 and 2020 when an additional 1047.96 tonnes was sourced by both the public and private sector coffee buyers.

Elsewhere, Merhi said the value of coffee imports by the UAE increased steadily between 2018 to 2020 from USD $104 million to $175 million. The Emirates imported USD $111 million worth of coffee in 2019. The UAE coffee imports were equivalent to 9.1 percent, 9.2 percent and 14.3 percent of the total Middle East coffee imports totals for 2018, 2019 and 2020 respectively.

However, the effects of Covid on the global coffee trade impacted 2021 coffee imports with the UAE reporting a 13 percent decline in value to USD $145 million down from $175 million in 2020. The drop in imports, does not however, reflect across the Middle East market where the value of coffee imports increased from USD $1.2 billion in 2020 to $1.4 billion in 2021.

Official projections by the UAE government show the Middle East & Africa coffee market will grow at a CAGR of 7.5 percent between 2022 and 2027 while that of the UAE would increase by 8.3 percent for the same period.

Elsewhere, the DMCC Coffee Centre has provided an enabling platform for the international coffee franchises to offer customer-driven coffee products to cater for the diverse global coffee cultures triggered by the increasing number of tourists. The FAO indicated a 58 percent increase in tourist coffee consumption in the UAE between 2016 and 2019. It said that consumption increased from 2424 tonnes in 2016 to 3850 tonnes in 2019. Visitors consumed 3466 tonnes and 3521 tonnes of coffee in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

Furthermore, the UAE’s population has been growing steadily, with the country’s labour force coming from more than 200 nationalities. The foreign population in the UAE represents 89 percent of the Emirates total estimated at 9.9 million in 2020. Due to the diverse cultures, the UAE is in the middle of a changing coffee consumption trend that is aligned more to the Western world. This change ultimately influences the UAE’s coffee trade with the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, the UAE’s coffee market and trade received a major boost from hosting the second edition of the World of Coffee Dubai, an event that was organised by integrated event management firm DXB Live in partnership with Specialty Coffee Association (SCA). World of Coffee (WOC) is touted as a suitable platform for international coffee businesses wishing to break into the Middle East’s emerging coffee industry. Both coffee producing and consuming countries exhibited at the event that was held in January.

DXB Live’s senior vice president, Khalid Al Hammadi, said the event, one of the world’s major global coffee industry events in 2023, is a major boost to the UAE’s stature as “a regional and global hub for the coffee industry.” He added that “World of Coffee Dubai 2023 also provided industry representatives with exceptional opportunities to network with their peers.”

Moreover, the UAE’s economic growth is expected to remain robust according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), supported by “a strong rebound in tourism, construction.” With the Emirates’ overall GDP growth projected to reach above 6 percent in 2022 up from 3.8 percent in 2021, the UAE coffee market is likely to growth further as the country intensifies implementation of structural reforms that are providing investment opportunity for both the public and private coffee market players.

The UAE tea market remains strong

The UAE is also emerging as a key trading hub for the global tea market with the country increasing both its exports and re-exports to consuming markets especially in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman.

An emerging health-conscious population, especially after the Covid outbreak and a preference for beverages that have immunity-boosting qualities, is driving the growing UAE tea trade with the International Trade Centre estimating the value of the country’s total exports and re-exports in 2020 at USD $316 million and $39 million respectively. Currently, the UAE is the world’s largest re-exporter of tea with a major share in the global market, according to government reports.

The UAE has leveraged on this growing tea trade to set up the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) Tea Centre within the Jebel Ali Free Zone where subscribed members have the option to 100 percent own the tea trade operations with little or no personal and corporate tax or restrictions especially in when it comes to capital repatriation. At the Centre, traders have opportunity to package their tea, sourced from various producing countries, for re-export. In 2022, the Centre produced 8,200 tonnes of packaged tea, including 400 million tea bags, the equivalent of 27 percent growth compared to 2021.

More tea trade opportunities are likely to emerge during this year’s Global Dubai Tea Forum, the first one after a five-year hiatus. The event, slated for 25 – 27 April, under the theme ‘Unpacking the Future of Tea: From consumer trends to new market opportunities’, will bring together global tea producers, suppliers, buyers, governments, and other industry stakeholders “to discuss and explore the key consumer trends, market forces, and significant opportunities that will drive tea’s global growth.”

Since its inception, the Tea Centre has transacted around 425,000 metric tonnes of tea from 12 different origins servicing about 50 brands, per the DMCC.

Key tea buyers from Dubai such as India and Sri Lanka have set up shop at the DMCC Tea Centre to enhance access to the market with possibility of expanding to the rest of the Middle East markets where tea re-exportation is popular.

Kenya, India, Sri Lanka are top suppliers of tea to the UAE in 2020 per the ITC. Kenya’s and Sri Lanka’s value of tea exports to the UAE increased in 2020. While India’s declined. Overall, the UAE’s tea re-exports of flavoured and non-flavoured tea declined by 50 percent to USD $39.8 million according to ITC statistics that have been derived from the United Nations Comtrade database aggregates.

Similarly, imports dipped by nearly 8 percent during the same period, a trend observed since 2017. The value of tea imports dropped to USD $187 million in 2021 versus $194 million the previous year.

The ITC reports that Russia, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Ukraine are the UAE’s biggest tea re-export markets as the Middle East country rides on its flexible trade norms, favourable taxation policies and strategic geographical location to strengthen its position itself as a global tea-trade hub.

For some of the UAE’s export and re-export markets, the ITC’s statistics shows an interesting trend between 2018 and 2020 such as the emergence of Saudi Arabia as the preferred tea export destination dethroning Russia from among the top five. The value of the UAE’s tea exports to Russia in 2018 was estimated at US $49.71 million, higher than that of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman estimated at $48.52 million, $6.59 million, $3.96 million, and $2.34 million respectively. However, in 2020, Saudi Arabia emerged as the top export destination with tea valued at $86.48 million, more than 1000 percent increase.

Tea exports to Kuwait and Oman in 2020 grew by more than 1000 percent and 800 percent to USD $44 million and $22.56 million, respectively. Conversely, tea imports from the UAE that year by Russia and Iraq declined by 41 percent and 55.89 percent, respectively.

Consumption

Tea remains a popular beverage in the Middle East with market research firm Frost & Sullivan saying demand for tea as a hot beverage “is increasing in the GCC and is strongly backed by product innovations incorporated into the product and marketed in the region.”

The report further notes that increased interest in health and wellness is driving the demand for infused tea in the GCC market. Additionally, Frost & Sullivan find that the post-Covid period has seen an increase in demand for infused herbal tea, especially with ingredients such as peppermint, ashwagandha, ginger, and probiotics. The popularity of the teas is driven largely by the products’ overall functional property-enhancing qualities more specifically those associated with boosting of consumers’ body immunity. The UAE, like in many GCC markets, is experiencing a trend where consumers prefer green tea partly because of they have found new flavours in the product.

With the UAE’s focus on long-term growth for its coffee and tea markets backed by a deliberate move by public and private sector to integrate innovation into these commodities’ supply chains, chances of this Middle East country emerging as one of the top global markets in tea and coffee, are extremely high.

• Shem Oirere is a freelance business journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya. He has spent more than 25 years covering various sectors of Africa’s economy including the region’s agribusiness. He holds BA in International Relations and Diplomacy from the University of South Africa and earned a higher degree in journalism from the London School of Journalism and is also a member of the Association of Business Executives (ABE).

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