Tata Coffee eyes premium specialty coffee player tag

New Delhi: Aiming to tap the growing specialty coffee market, Tata Coffee is looking to transform itself into a premium specialty coffee company from a commodity player.

"Key trends in the coffee industry point to the emergence of specialty, premium, differentiated, single origin and farm-branded coffees occupying centre-stage in the international market. So, there is an opportunity to market differentiated coffee which is distinctive in taste and appeal," Tata Coffee MD and CEO Sanjiv Sarin told PTI.

Differentiated premium coffee mainly caters to the need of roasters like Starbucks and others.

Sarin added that this vision aligns with the global trend where coffee lovers in India and across the world are now preferring differentiated premium coffees.

"Tata Coffee has been consistently moving up the value chain in both its plantations business as well as its instant coffee business. And it's also looking to transform itself from being merely a commodity player to specialty coffee player in the market," Sarin added.

Tata Coffee?s Annual Report for 2014-15 is also based on the theme to make the company a specialty and differentiated coffee player.

The global coffee production stands at about 150 million bags. Premium differentiated coffee is today about 30 percent of the world trade of the commodity, as per industry estimates, and is growing at a healthy rate.

The company has 19 coffee estates spread over 18,224 acres situated in the Western Ghat at different altitudes that have highly conducive micro-climates.

In 2014-15, the total production of both Arabica and Robusta coffee stood at 8,596 tonnes.