Tata Coffee Ltd., Asia’s largest publicly traded grower of the bean, may invest $27.7-million in a factory to make instant coffee in Africa to meet rising global demand.

The company, majority-owned by Tata Global Beverages Ltd., may build the plant in Uganda, Africa’s biggest producer of the robusta variety, Kenya or central Africa, according to managing director Hameed Huq in an interview with Bloomberg.

Tata Coffee may also consider acquiring a company in the continent. The company’s shares rose as much as 2.7% in Mumbai.

Bangalore-based Tata Coffee expects a global economic recovery to help boost demand for instant coffee, a market valued at $19.6-billion, according to researcher Euromonitor International.

The state owned coffee board says exports from India, Asia’s third-largest coffee supplier, have gained this year after production rebounded from a year earlier.

source: Bloomberg