THE HAMBURG COFFEE EXCHANGE

Coffee is not merely a stimulating drink and the Germans' favourite beverage, it is moreover a significant product on international trade markets. Following the United States, Germany is the second-largest coffee consumer in the world and it is a leading trade and transit market.

As a rule, the actual price of buying or selling coffee in trade contracts rises or falls according to exchange listings. Exchange prices generally refer to what is termed standard quality so that buyers and sellers negotiate according to the quality of the specific merchandise. Once both parties have agreed on a price and the deal is set, nothing stands in the way of their hedging against fluctuating market prices.

The coffee industry founded the German Coffee Association in Hamburg in 1969 as a means of promoting joint industry interests and its members reflect the broad spectrum of companies in this industry. The coffee industry accounted for revenues totalling EUR 3.7 thousand million in 2002. In Germany alone 422,000 tons of roasted coffee and 14,950 tons of instant coffee were sold in 2002. That amounts to a per-capital consumption of 6.6 kg of coffee based on 541,050 tons of unroasted coffee beans. On average Germans drink just under four cups of coffee a day. That adds up to a total consumption of almost 73 thousand million cups of brewed or instant coffee in Germany in 2002.