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Asia welcomes Starbucks Via Ready Brew

September 5, 2011

Starbucks Coffee Company is expanding its VIA Ready Brew to Singapore, one of six additional Asia Pacific markets that will soon offer the coffee. By the end of September, Starbucks stores in South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Australia will also carry the product.

"We see immense opportunity for Starbucks VIA in Asia, especially with the popularity and significant size of the region's instant coffee category," said Jinlong Wang, president, Starbucks Asia Pacific. "We are confident that Starbucks VIA will create new market demands for premium single-serve coffee to enjoy at home or on-the-go and become a new growth engine for Starbucks in the region."

According to Euromonitors 2010, the instant coffee market size across Asia Pacific's markets in which Starbucks operates is about $4 billion. This significant business growth opportunity for Starbucks in the region, coupled with the strong appeal and repeat rate of the product in the U.S., U.K., China, Philippines and Japan, reinforces the company's view that Starbucks VIA will become another $1 billion Starbucks brand over time. Since its launch in September 2009, Starbucks VIA has surpassed the $200 million mark in global sales (as of March 2011).

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