Demand and Love for Coffee Grow as Prices Stay Low

TIRANA, October 8

To-go or to stay, Albanians love coffee and the official data on the coffee trade during 2018 helped to grow this relationship stronger. Based on the stats provided by the Albanian Customs, imported coffee totaled 7,000 tons of coffee or Lek 28.6 billion in 2018. A year-over-year comparison shows a 32 percent increase in quantity and a 20 percent growth in value.

In general, data from the last five years confirm a growing trend following the decline in 2017. Meanwhile, 2016 was the year with the highest amount of coffee imports with 8,500 tons.

Regarding 2019, the data from the General Directorate of Customs, show that in the first 5 months of 2019, have been imported and consumed 3311 tons of coffee.
According to monitor magazine, the average coffee consumption per capita in 2018 was 2.5 kg. The cups of coffee expected from a 1 kg bag of coffee beans varies between 120 and 150. A cup of coffee/espresso in Albania costs between Lek 50 and Lek 150 or even more at fancy bar-restaurants. Meanwhile, 100 grams of Turkish coffee cost Lek 120 or €1.

Therefore, the average number of coffees per Albanian in 2018 varied from 300 to 375. Albania also exports modest amounts of coffee to Serbia and North Macedonia.

Albania, one of the countries with the highest number of bars and coffeeshops 

Data from the Structural Survey 2016 conducted by the Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) showed that the total number of bars and bar-restaurants in Albania was respectively 14,200 and 3,965.
The population-bar ratio was 654 bars or coffee shops per 100,000 people. In 2016 Albania surpassed even Spain, which held the record on the population-bar ratio in the European Union with 592 bars per 100,000 people.

Source: Monitor