European Market Potential for Specialty Coffee

The Coffee culture has always been an important part of our society. Through the years, this industry has evolved in many different aspects and forms. New flavors and business models have arised over the last decades shaping the future of this industry. Countries around Europe have adapted to this change very differently due to their traditions, economic situation, and the age of its population. One of the biggest contrasts can be seen between Western and Eastern Europe.

In several Eastern European countries, there is a growing trend in both the consumption of coffee and the number of coffee shops. Hungary had 1218 cafés as of 2023, and until 2027, the country expects its coffee shop count to expand at a pace of 4.2% a year. Another example is the Czech market which is anticipated to increase at a 2.36% annual pace till 2028. The Coffee Embassy in Prague is an example of the new trends. Their goal is to spread awareness of and interest in coffee culture across the nation.

According to the World Integrated Trade Solution, Poland and Czech Republic had the biggest growth of imported roasted coffee from 2021 to 2023. In 2021, Poland imported over 65,000 tonnes of roasted coffee, while in 2023 that number increased to over 73,000 tonnes. The Czech Republic imported a bit over 33,000 tonnes in 2021, and that number jumped to over 46,000 tonnes in 2023. The countries with a smaller increase of imported roasted coffee are Romania, Lithuania and Bulgaria. They all increased their import by less than 1000 tonnes. The only country that experienced a decrease in imported roasted coffee is Hungary with over -2000 tonnes. 

Another interesting data is the out-of-home consumption for 2023. The major Eastern European countries with the highest rates of out-of-home consumption of coffee were Croatia 42%, Romania 19%, Bulgaria 17%, and Hungary 17%. In comparison, Germany accounted for only 11% of that statistic in the same year. 

The development of the coffee market can be also analyzed by comparing the tonnes of roasted coffee imports in the last couple of years. The following table, released by the European Coffee Federation, shows this number for some of the Eastern European countries and Germany over time.

Table 1: Roasted coffee 2015/2023 incl. decaf (in tonnes), according to the European Coffee Report 2022/2023 and 2014/2015

In conclusion, the data shows that many Eastern European countries are increasing their roasted coffee import over time and most of them are starting to focus specifically on roasted coffee. Considering that Europe is the biggest importer of coffee compared to the other continents, the coffee market is expected to continuously grow in the future.