The 2023 Single-origin Coffee Tasting and Promotion Session holds in Central Business District, Beijing on August 3, 2023 Photo: Courtesy of the Beijing Central Business District Administration Committee

Representatives from multiple coffee exporters including Brazil, Columbia and East Timor said on Thursday that their coffee exports to China surged in the first half of 2023, and expressed confident in the continued growth of the Chinese  market.  

Oscar Felipe Rueda, Commercial Counsellor from Embassy of Colombia said during attending the 2023 Single-origin Coffee Tasting and Promotion Session in Central Business District, Beijing on Thursday that the value of coffee export from Columbia to China hit about $28 million in the first five months of 2023, an over 50 percent of year-on-year increase.  

As the world's third largest coffee producer, Columbia exported $78 million worth of coffee to China in 2022, increased by 66 percent year-on-year. "Although coffee exports to China only account for 2 percent of our total coffee exports, China's market has showed great potential in coffee demand," said Rueda.  

From 2017 to 2023, Brazil's coffee export to China increased by about 70 percent, according to Adriano Giacomet, Head of Commercial Section from Embassy of Brazil. In the first half of 2023, Brazil has exported $70 million of coffee, while Brazil's annual coffee exports value to China in 2022 was $79 million, he noted.  

Giacomet estimated that Brazil's annual coffee exports to China in 2023 may see a twofold increase from last year. 

South Pacific country Timor-Leste  is also benefitting from coffee exports to China. "Timor-Leste's coffee exports to China has ranked the third place in February this year by surpassing Japan, Australia and the UK with volume of 384,000 tons," said Benjamin Pinto, Commercial Attache from Embassy of Timor-Leste during the promotion session. 

According to a report released by Chinese market analysis platform GeoQ, multiple domestic coffee brands accelerated their expansion in Chinese market in the first half of 2023. The store number of Chinese coffee brand Luckin Coffee has surpassed 10,000 as of the end of June, and another brand Cotti Coffee opened 3,426 new stores, the most during the period, said the report. 

For overseas brands, Starbuck's second quarter report of its fiscal 2023 from January 2 to April 2 showed that the US coffee brand opened 153 new stores in China, roughly a doubling of the increase  recorded in the previous quarter. Its revenue reached nearly $800 million, increased by 3 percent year-on-year, first positive growth since the third quarter in fiscal 2021.  

Data from China's General Administration of Customs showed that China imported 175,300 tons of coffee and relevant products in 2022 from more than 70 countries and regions worldwide, with a combined value of 7.39 billion yuan. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations said China's annual coffee consumption will reach 277,000 tons by 2025.  

Zhang Le, co-founder and general manager of the Beijing International Coffee Center told the Global Times on Thursday that China's powerful consumption built on its demographic dividend has boosted the demand of coffee and development of relevant industries in recent years.  

"By 2025, China will form a huge coffee market with value of nearly 1 trillion yuan," Zhang said.  

Global Times