We never drank so much coffee in the world

Coffee consumption has almost doubled in the last 20 years, according to the International Coffee Organization (ICO).

Coffee lovers have never been so numerous, according to figures released by the International Coffee Organization (ICO), whose member countries account for 95% of production and 83% of world coffee consumption. 

On average, the increase in demand for coffee, "records a constant upward trend of 2.5% per year," said the director of the ICO, Mr. Oliveira. Enough to give him a smile: "The global coffee consumption continues to increase and this is due both to the growth of the population as a matter of taste," says Oliveira, who expects "an increase of 25 million bag (60 kgs per bag) for the next 10 years."

The panorama for producers, however, is much darker: in Brazil, the largest producer, excessive rain raised fears of damage while the British planters fear, them, rising costs and a spread of diseases due to lack of water. And the El Niño phenomenon, which results in a warming of the waters of the equatorial Pacific Ocean and can cause heavy rainfall in some areas and droughts in others, could affect still strongly coffee crops.

"The rains in Brazil are of concern because it can cause problems in terms of coffee supply because there will be less production, less grain, and it will create a sense of scarcity in the international market" said Oliveira.

In financial terms, the producers are far from reaping the benefits of this global craze for coffee. According to the latest report from the ICO, the 2014-2015 season ended with the lowest price the last 20 months, "because of the weakness of the Brazilian real and the Colombian peso," the two most devalued currencies Latin America this year.

In September 2015, coffee traded at 1,544 dollars per tonne in London and 116 cents a pound in New York, the lowest since a year and a half. The director of the OIC hopes that "the market react and understand that there are some coffee right now" because of bad weather.

It provides for increased production in Central America, will once controlled the spread of rust fungus that is devastating crops for three years in this region. But the Central American Harvest "is not sufficient to meet the needs of the market" at this stage, he said.

The increase in consumption will affect the prices, especially under the pressure of demand from new countries such as China and Russia, which until now were not big coffee buyers. "The industry is going to be rather dynamic scale of the global economy," says the boss of the ICO.