MILAN, Aug 31: Imports of green coffee into Italy, one of the world’s major roasters, are set to rise in the next few years on the back of growing re-exports, the head of an Italian coffee body said.Imports are seen rising despite stagnating domestic demand.

“Total coffee demand in Italy rose 4.5-5.0 per cent in 2006, but this growth was largely, almost entirely, thanks to re-export of Italian coffee,” Marco Paladini, president of Italian National Espresso Institute (INEI), said on Thursday.

Italy bought about 5.8 million 60-kg bags of green coffee last year in coffee producing countries and sold to consumer countries an equivalent of 800,000-900,000 bags of roasted coffee, Paladini told Reuters in a telephone interview.

“We are becoming stronger abroad as more and more people outside Italy get to appreciate the Italian way of coffee making... This year (imports) will rise again, driven by re-sales, and also in the coming years,” he said.

Coffee consumption in Italy is likely to remain stable in the next few years, with growth hopes hinging on young people who appear to be drinking more coffee now than before thanks to its improved image, Paladini said.

INEI was set up in 1998 to protect and promote Italy’s strong espresso coffee and now unites 35 small and medium-size Italian coffee roasters and coffee machine makers.—Reuters