India produces 4.3 per cent of the total production of coffee in the world. There has been significant increase in the area, production and yield of coffee at a rate of 5.54%, 29.68% and 6.28% per annum respectively during 1950-51 and 2000-01 (Table 11 .IV). About 90 per cent of the total area and 99 per cent of the total production of coffee come from three southern states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Karnataka
Kamataka accounts for 57.46 per cent of the total area and 69.45 per cent of the total production of coffee in the country. Out of the 89,314 coffee holdings one-third (29,498) are concentrated in this state. Chikmagalur district alone contributes 35 per cent of the area and 34 per cent of the production of t he country. Other important producers include Coorg, Hassan, Shimoga, Kodagu, Mysore and Dakshina Kannada districts. Here about two-third of the coffee area is under coffee Arabica variety.
Kerala
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Kerala is the second largest producer of coffee in the country contributing 23.94 per cent of its total area and 23.27 per cent of its total production. Most of the production comes from Kozhikode, Palakkad, Waynad, Idukki, Kottayam and Malappuram districts. Here coffee is grown at an altitude of 1200 m, where rainfall is about 200 cm.
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu provides 8.73 per cent of the total area and 5.82 per cent of the total production of coffee in the country. Nilgiris district alone accounts for half of the production of the state. Other producers include Madurai, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, and Salem districts.
Others
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Some coffee is also grown in Maharashtra (Satara, Ratnagiri districts), Andhra Pradesh (Vishakhapatnam district), West Bengal, Orissa, Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura and Andaman islands.
Domestic Consumption
About 40% of the country’s production of coffee is utilised in internal consumption, mostly in three southern states of Kamataka, Kerala and Tamil ‘Nadu. The Indian Coffee Board is making efforts to promote the consumption in other parts of the country. The per capita consumption, which was 51 gms in 1950-51, increased to 74 gms in 1980-81 and 64 gms in 1992-93.
Export
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About 60 per cent of the country’s production of coffee is exported (Table 11 .VI). About one-third of this export goes to the U.K. Other importing countries include Russia, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Hungary, France, Belgium, Yugoslavia, Germany, Poland, Iraq, and Australia. Until recently most of the export was in the form of raw coffee but recently coffee extracts and instant coffee are gaining popularity.
The Indian coffee is preferred for its quality. Recently the Brazilian coffee is offering stiff competition to the Indian export in the world market. Mangalore (76%), Tellicherry (11%), Kozhikode (10%) and Chennai (3%) are the main ports handling the coffee export. In 1998-99 India exported 1.94 lakh tonnes of coffee valued at $ 410.7 million.