Coffee cold knowledge: Hainan coffee annual output of less than 200 tons, sales reached 6000 tons

Growers at Xinglong overseas Chinese Farm are checking the growth of coffee. Photo taken by our reporter Su Xiaojie

-our reporter Kuang Changxun and Guo Jiaxuan

Special correspondent Chen Xunjing correspondent Wang Zhe-Zhi

Blessings accumulate like mountains and prosper. In the past May Day short holiday, two small towns famous for their coffee, Wanning Xinglong and Chengmai Fushan, were crowded with tourists from all over the world. They sat in a coffee shop with Nanyang style, enjoying the Hainan coffee that they had admired for a long time. After drinking it, they did not forget that large and small bags were stuffed into their suitcases and brought back to their hometown as specialty gifts, so that their relatives and friends could share the "taste of Hainan." Tourists are deeply impressed by the prosperity of coffee industry and coffee culture in Hainan.

As the earliest coffee growing area in China, Hainan coffee has long been famous all over the country. However, a recent survey by a reporter found that Hainan coffee, which is famous for its reputation, has become quite fragile in the industry in recent years: farmers who grow 1 mu of coffee have an annual net income of less than 500 yuan, which is less than 10 percent of the annual income of betel nut or winter melons and vegetables. Driven by the rationality of comparative benefits, the enthusiasm of farmers to grow coffee has declined year by year. The coffee area of the province has shrunk from 230000 mu in 1988 to less than 3000 mu at the end of 2009. Even after the strong support in the past few years, the area of coffee trees hanging fruit in the province is only about 2000 mu. At present, the annual output of dried coffee beans in the province is only 200 tons at most, but as many as 6000 tons are sold under the "Hainan Coffee" brand. The brand of "Hainan Coffee" has been seriously affected.

Coffee production in Hainan is limited.

"to come to Xinglong is to try the authentic Xinglong coffee." On May 1, Yang Huining, a tourist from Heilongjiang, specially went to Xinglong to taste "the coffee praised by Premier Zhou."

Dong Yunping, associate researcher of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences and director of the Coffee Research Center, told reporters that with the continuous warming of tourism in Hainan in recent years, our province has gradually become the region with the strongest coffee culture and one of the largest coffee consumption markets in China, with annual sales of dried coffee beans reaching 6000 tons.

Embarrassing for Hainan, despite its reputation, the actual output of local coffee beans in Hainan is very small. "at present, the annual output of dried coffee beans in our province is only about 200 tons, mainly in Xinglong and Fushan. Even with the newly planted coffee trees in the past two years, the total area of coffee trees in the province is only about 10,000 mu. At present, there are only about 2000 mu of coffee trees hanging fruit. Even if calculated according to the annual output of 100 kilograms per mu, it is far from meeting the market demand for coffee in Hainan. " Dong Yunping said that all kinds of coffee beans imported from abroad but under the banner of "Hainan Coffee" fill the demand gap.

Dong Yunping's claim is supported by a forecast of tropical crops for 2013 from the provincial agriculture department. The table shows that in 2013, the planting area of coffee trees in Hainan is 6000 mu, and the total output of dried coffee beans is expected to be 200t.

Many people in the industry also told reporters that Hainan's coffee is now on the verge of drying up its production source. Most of the products on the market under the banner of "authentic Hainan coffee" are processed with coffee beans from Vietnam and Yunnan. "Hainan imports about 3000 tons of coffee beans from Yunnan every year, and also imports two to three thousand tons of coffee beans from Vietnam, Brazil and other places."

Take "Xinglong Coffee" as an example, according to incomplete statistics, there are nearly 10 enterprises in Xinglong Town alone, of which 5 are of a certain scale, while there are several enterprises outside Wanning City. Only based on the production capacity of five large-scale enterprises in Xinglong Town, if all local coffee beans are used, the annual demand will be at least 1000 tons, equivalent to 10, 000 mu of planting area. If you add in the enterprises outside Wanning, you need at least 2000 tons of dried coffee beans, which is equivalent to the output of 15000-20 million mu of coffee trees.

However, the reporter's field investigation found that the planting area of coffee trees in Wanning City is only about 2500 mu, of which 2000 mu are newly planted year by year after 2009. On the other hand, it takes three years for coffee trees to begin to bear fruit and five years to reach a high yield period.

Ding Ruirong, director of the Wanning Municipal Bureau of Industry and Science and Technology Information Industry, told reporters that in 2009, the local government launched coffee planting subsidies in order to support the coffee industry. At that time, it helped farmers to grow nearly 300 mu of coffee. This batch of coffee only began to hang fruit last winter and this spring. "in 2009, the government also subsidized the existing coffee land at that time, subsidizing 365 mu, mainly in Xinglong overseas Chinese farms. Therefore, it can be judged that even if statistical omissions are added, the area of hanging fruit coffee trees at that time is no more than 500 mu.

On the whole, until this year, the area of coffee trees that can hang fruit in Wanning City is only about 700 mu to 800 mu. According to the annual output of 100 kilograms of dried beans per mu, the total annual output of dried coffee beans is only 80 tons.

The same thing happened at Fukuyama Coffee. According to the reporter's investigation, before 2010, the planting area of coffee trees in Chengmaifu Mountain was about 1000 mu. In recent years, nearly ten thousand mu of new plants have been planted with policy support, but so far there has not been a large number of fruits. In other words, the current annual output of dried Fushan coffee beans is only about 100 tons. But at present, Chengmai has six large-scale coffee processing and operating enterprises, with annual coffee sales of more than 1000 tons.

The perplexity of the development of Xinglong coffee

Xinglong Mountain Coffee, Xinglong charcoal roasted coffee, Xinglong authentic coffee, Xinglong pure coffee. On May 7, the reporter saw in a specialty supermarket on the street of Haikou that all kinds of "Xinglong Coffee" produced by more than a dozen manufacturers were placed on the shelves. What is strange is that although the brands are all "Xinglong Coffee", they come from a variety of places, such as Haikou, Wenchang, Qionghai and Wanning. A consumer who was buying looked a little at a loss, but the salesperson said: these are definitely authentic Xinglong coffee, otherwise how dare you print such a big logo?

An industry source told reporters that despite its reputation, Xinglong Coffee has not been registered so far, so no matter where the company wants to print Xinglong Coffee in the package, it is not illegal. The gold-lettered signboard of "Xinglong Coffee", which is famous at home and abroad, is unexpectedly a common logo that can be used at will! This has greatly reduced the brand value of Xinglong Coffee.

The reporter learned that as early as 1983, when the market economy first emerged, the Xinglong overseas Chinese Farm Coffee Factory was ready to register "Xinglong" brand coffee. "but when we went to the industry and commerce department to register, we were told that there was a Xinglong county in Hebei province. According to China's Trademark Law, place names of administrative divisions at and above the county level cannot be registered as trademarks." Liang Dingwei, director of the overseas Chinese Farm Coffee Factory, told reporters that in desperation, they had no choice but to use the "Sun River", the best producing area of Xinglong coffee, as a registered trademark, that is, the current "Sun River" brand coffee.

The trademark can not be registered. In order to protect the gold-lettered signboard of "Xinglong Coffee", Wanning City started to declare Xinglong Coffee as "National Geographic indication Product Protection" in 2005. Through efforts, in December 2007, the General Administration of quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine formally approved the protection of geographical indication products for Xinglong Coffee. The scope of protection is as follows: Wanning City takes Xinglong overseas Chinese Farm as the center and its surrounding Nanqiao Town, Changfeng Town, Sangengluo Town and Liji Town are now under the jurisdiction of administrative areas; quality and technical requirements, including site conditions, cultivation techniques, processing technology, quality characteristics, etc., meet the relevant national regulations for similar products. This is also the first geographical indication protection of coffee industry in our country.

Up to now, however, this geographical indication, which has been applied for after many twists and turns, has been "lying" in the office and has not played any role in the development of the industry. While a large number of enterprises make a lot of money under the name of "Xinglong Coffee", more and more growers of the origin of Xinglong Coffee are struggling to grow coffee because of their increasingly meagre profits. They hope that the relevant departments will step up efforts to crack down on counterfeiting to protect the real Xinglong coffee.

"the government is not conniving at counterfeiting, but it is not the right time to crack down on counterfeiting." Ding Ruirong said that the Wanning municipal party committee and municipal government applied for the protection of national geographical indications in order to protect the gold-lettered signboard "Xinglong Coffee." But the reality is that at present, the output of Xinglong coffee beans is so small that even a processing enterprise cannot have enough to eat. if geographical indication protection is started now, almost all enterprises that produce "Xinglong coffee" will stop production because they have no raw materials. The whole industry will collapse. To make matters worse, as the price of Xinglong coffee beans is much higher than that of coffee beans in Vietnam, Yunnan and other places, if they really start to "crack down on counterfeiting", many enterprises will give up using the "Xinglong Coffee" logo and refrain from purchasing local coffee beans at all. In this way, the thriving coffee planting industry will also be affected, and the only "geographical indication protection" will be meaningless.

The gap between the rich and the poor in the industrial chain

In some cafes in our province, it takes about 10 grams of dried coffee beans to make a 200ml espresso, and the price of each cup of coffee can be as high as 20 yuan. In other words, a kilogram of coffee beans can be sold for 2000 yuan after "taste improvement". At chain giants such as Starbucks, that price will double.

In addition to making drinks, coffee has good medicinal value. Caffeine can be used to make anesthetics, stimulants and diuretics. The pulp contains pectin, reducing sugar, amino acids, vitamins and other substances, which can be used to make wine and vinegar. From the analysis of the whole industry chain, coffee is an internationally recognized high value-added agricultural product. From planting to terminal consumption, the profit increment on the industrial chain is as high as 70 times, far exceeding the vast majority of agricultural products.

In recent years, foreign coffee giants have flocked to China, planting in rural enclosures and seizing the market in cities, valuing this potential market.

However, compared with the high profits of end products, the coffee planting industry at the front end of the industrial chain has become an absolutely low-income industry.

Zeng Xiangzheng, a worker at Xinglong overseas Chinese Farm, recalls that his eyes were still glowing at that time: "at that time, there were a lot of coffee trees in front and behind the house and in the farmland. When it comes to the harvest season, everyone is just like picking tea, carrying baskets to the coffee garden. When there is a shortage of manpower, the school will also have a holiday and let the students go home to help pick. Now most of the coffee trees have been cut down and planted rubber, betel nuts and winter melons and vegetables. "

Wang Meijian, secretary of the party branch of Fenhua Village, Fushan Town, also told reporters: "in the 1980s, 100 families in the village planted more than 2000 mu of coffee. Now, the coffee trees in the village have almost been cut down and replaced with crops such as rubber, bananas, litchi and winter melons and vegetables. "

Statistics show that the coffee planting area of our province reached a peak of 230000 mu in 1988, and then shrank rapidly: 140000 mu in 1990, 60, 000 mu in 1992, 30, 000 mu in 1995, 10, 000 mu in 1998, and less than 3000 mu at the end of 2009, mainly concentrated in Fushan and Xinglong. Since 2009, Wanning and other places have begun to revitalize the coffee industry and encourage farmers to expand their planting. However, Ding Ruirong, who is specifically responsible for the promotion work, said frankly: "it is not profitable to grow coffee. It is really difficult to mobilize farmers to grow it."

Chen Peng, a technician at the spice and beverage research institute of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, has studied coffee planting technology for more than 20 years. He once calculated an economic account: under favorable weather, he planted coffee and other cash crops such as betel nut. Farmers' annual income per mu of land is about 7,000 to 8,000 yuan, while changing to planting out-of-season melons and vegetables can achieve this amount per mu. "even if you add in the coffee planting subsidies allocated by the relevant departments, farmers still feel that it is not cost-effective."

Xu Shibing, general manager of Hainan Fushan Coffee Industry Co., Ltd. also said frankly: "not only farmers do not make money, large-scale companies do not make money either." The company's 1000 mu coffee farm has an annual output of about 60 kg / mu of coffee beans. According to the international purchase price of coffee beans, the company will lose 1 million yuan in the planting link every year. "

It is understood that in recent years, Hainan coffee beans have been increasingly impacted by non-local coffee beans. At present, the average price of coffee beans in Vietnam is 15-20 yuan per kilogram; in Pu'er, Baoshan and other places in Yunnan Province, the cost price of coffee beans this year is only 12-15 yuan per kilogram. Under the current production cost in Hainan, farmers want to get the same profits as Vietnamese producers, and the price per ton of coffee is more than twice the current price. At present, there is not a high-end product made of local coffee beans in Hainan terminal market. Products can not be bought at a high price, and companies certainly will not buy local coffee beans at a high price.

How does Hainan coffee smell farther?

The situation of coffee cultivation in Hainan is very complex, and its advantages and disadvantages are very obvious.

Fu Changming, secretary general of Hainan Coffee Industry Association, told reporters: "from the perspective of latitude, Hainan is in the best coffee growing area in the world." At the same time, volcanic eruptions in the history of Hainan have formed volcanic soil, which is the most suitable for coffee growth, which is the advantage of coffee cultivation in Hainan-- Hainan's climatic environment and soil conditions are similar to the world-famous Blue Mountain Coffee producing area of Jamaica, which is very suitable for growing high-quality coffee. "

"but the disadvantages are equally obvious." Fu Changming explained, "there are three major problems: first, there are many typhoons and high planting risks; second, the cost of land and labor is high; and third, there is a small area of arable land and lack of conditions for growing coffee in a large area." Last year, Yunnan Province planted 1.34 million mu of coffee with an output of 82000 tons. In terms of output, Hainan is unmatched, so output should never become the goal of the development of coffee industry in Hainan. The correct way of thinking is to strengthen and promote the industry through consumer culture and brand building based on high-quality coffee and deep coffee culture. "

Some industry insiders also said that in terms of the current situation in Hainan, the production of boutique coffee is the only way out for coffee cultivation in Hainan. The so-called "boutique coffee" refers to the selection of suitable varieties and differential cultivation and management techniques under special growth conditions to produce coffee with a unique flavor through specific processing or production, and its price is several times higher than that of ordinary coffee beans. But it also puts forward higher requirements for varieties, planting methods and so on.

In recent years, with the development of Chinese economy and the change of living habits, coffee is becoming more and more popular. Since 1998, the annual per capita consumption of coffee in China has increased at a rate of 30%, far exceeding the annual growth rate of 6% of the world coffee consumption. China is gradually becoming the largest coffee consumer market in the world. According to the forecast of the authoritative organization, by 2020, the total consumption of China's coffee market will reach 50 billion US dollars, and the market space derived from the whole industry chain will reach hundreds of billions of US dollars.

In the face of the growing market opportunities and demand space, how to share this cake in Hainan, which has a profound coffee culture?

Many people in the industry said that it is necessary to "walk on two legs": on the one hand, make use of Hainan's limited local coffee bean resources and take the road of "integration of production and marketing" to create a boutique coffee agricultural style park; on the other hand, by improving processing skills and production capacity, build a brand, use exported coffee beans to produce brand products with a distinct "Hainan" mark.

Wang Xiaoyang, an assistant researcher at the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, said that Arabica coffee is grown in Yunnan, while medium-grain coffee is mainly grown in Vietnam, while coffee grown in Hainan tastes more mellow. Combined with the unique local flavor, Hainan should, while promoting high-quality coffee, develop coffee products with unique tropical flavors, such as tropical fruit coffee, coconut coffee, vanilla coffee, flower-flavored coffee, etc., to form a differential competition with foreign coffee products. At the same time, the relevant departments should also strengthen the management of enterprises, establish unified technical standards, and change the current phenomenon of intermingling the good and the bad.

Dong Yunping and others believe that at present, the popularity of Hainan coffee is extremely dependent on regional brands such as "Xinglong" and "Fushan", while the weakness of the planting link makes these regional brands in an awkward position that "the skin does not exist and Mao will be attached" all the time. At present, it is urgent to balance the distribution of interests between production and marketing, so that the profits of processing and sales can feed the planting link.

The reporter learned that Wanning and Chengmai have been exploring the model of "integration of production and marketing", bundling "planting base + processing plant + sales terminal", using sales to pull planting and back-feeding planting, and achieved certain results. However, some people think that although this development model starts relatively fast, in the long run, it is not easy to expand the planting scale due to the land constraints of Hainan. "how to increase the output value of limited coffee beans is a subject that Hainan coffee industry needs to explore.

Some industry insiders said that in the long run, Hainan coffee industry should jump out of the constraints of regional brands and strengthen the brand establishment of sales terminal products. "Japan does not produce coffee, but Japan's Oshima coffee is very successful; Starbucks does not grow its own coffee, and its brand is loud. Hainan can explore the global procurement of high-quality coffee beans, by strengthening processing, sales and other downstream industry chain to enhance the comprehensive brand of Hainan coffee. " Fu Changming said: "Hainan's coffee industry has always been in the forefront of the country." The brand construction of Hainan coffee should not only stay on the coffee beans produced locally in Hainan, but also constantly expand in coffee processing technology, coffee history and culture, tropical customs and slow lifestyle, so as to expand and strengthen the downstream industry chain of coffee. " (Xinhua News Agency Xinglong, May 8th)