Yunnan small seed Coffee attracts domestic and Foreign buyers

On the 213 National Highway from Xishuangbanna to Pu'er, when cars drill out of a tunnel, small coffee trees can be seen everywhere. "it's almost coffee harvest. You see, this land is planted on the sunny side without shade trees, and there will be insect pests in the future. " Wen Liubin, an employee of Nestl é's Yunnan Coffee Company, told the Economic Information Daily (Weibo) that he had walked this road more than a hundred times a year after graduating from college, visiting surrounding farmers to teach them how to grow coffee.

Yunnan Pu'er and Xishuangbanna are the most suitable areas for growing small-grain coffee in China. This kind of coffee bean is famous for its light shape and fragrant fruit aroma. Arabica coffee beans from the southwestern province of Yunnan have become the main blend of Arabica coffee in Europe, according to international commodity traders and roasters. 80% of Yunnan small seed coffee has been exported, but due to output, it has not yet controlled the price of the international futures market.

According to Hou Yongzhi, head of Nestl é coffee company in Yunnan Province, Arabica coffee beans are mainly used to make cappuccinos and espresso. This kind of coffee bean was introduced into Yunnan by a French missionary in the late 1880s. However, it was not until a hundred years later that coffee production increased rapidly with the investment of the Chinese government. In the late 1980s, Nestl é partnered with the Yunnan government to provide training services to coffee growers, buy their coffee and bring Yunnan coffee to the international market.

"over the past 26 years, adhering to the consistent business philosophy of creating shared value, we have been committed to working with relevant departments of the Yunnan government to jointly promote the industrialization of coffee. After 26 years of efforts, Nestl é's hard work in Yunnan has had a profound impact on the coffee industry and economic development in the region. At present, Yunnan has gradually developed into a high-quality small-seed coffee bean producing area with vigorous development, rich profits and deeply concerned by the global coffee industry. " Hute, head of Nestl é's coffee expert group in Yunnan, said that what Nestl é is experimenting with in Yunnan is to eliminate the intermediate link, from the farmer directly to the factory model, which greatly reduces the cost of acquisition and gives farmers as much benefit as possible.

In a conspicuous place at the entrance of Nestle's Pu'er purchasing station, there is a sign: "the purchase price of coffee today is 24 yuan per kilogram." Hou Yongzhi said that the coffee buying season is approaching, and the first one has been booked.

"We teach farmers to grow coffee, no matter eight trees or hundreds of acres of land." Hute said that Nestl é promotes the 4C standard in the coffee planting base, which on the one hand can help them tap the production potential, improve coffee quality and increase income; on the other hand, it will help Yunnan's coffee planting industry to improve the basic management of the coffee growing industry from the social, environmental and economic aspects of the 4C management principles, and to carry out coffee cultivation in a sustainable way.

According to him, 4C standard is widely accepted in the world at present, which involves the sustainable management rules of coffee cultivation, production, processing and marketing in all aspects of the supply chain, and aims to promote the sustainable development of coffee production, processing and trade. More and more international coffee buyers require that the coffee they buy must meet the requirements of 4C or equivalent.

In the coffee bean purchasing season of 2012-2013, more than 1 of the coffee beans purchased by Nestl é Pu'er purchasing station have met the 4C standard and are mainly exported to the international market. At the same time, in order to encourage farmers to produce high-quality coffee in a sustainable way, Nestl é has set up a "4C incentive to create shared value Fund" since 2013. In the 2014-2015 purchasing season, Nestl é fulfilled its previous commitment to purchase 4C certified coffee beans at 100%. Up to now, more than 2600 partners in Yunnan have passed 4C certification, benefiting nearly 36000 farmers, covering nearly 200000 mu of acreage.

Compared with other crops, the high return on coffee is prompting more and more Yunnan farmers to switch to coffee. In 2012, farmers earned twice as much income from coffee as tea under the same acreage. The 73-year-old owner of Xiaoguzi coffee planting base told Economic Information Daily that the couple earns about 350000 yuan a year after planting 200mu of coffee land every year, excluding labor, water, electricity, pesticides and other costs.

The development of coffee in Yunnan has attracted buyers at home and abroad. The boss said that there are still two months to go before the coffee harvest season, and many people have called to buy, including Xinjiang, Yunnan and even foreign companies. "We never rely on commercial contracts with the rural cooperative. The coffee harvested by farmers can not only be sold to Nestl é. He has a lot of choices. There is no contractual binding between us. " Hute expressed the hope that many coffee merchants will buy Pu'er and introduce a competition mechanism to make the coffee industry bigger and bigger.

While coffee production is growing rapidly, coffee consumption in China is also growing at a rapid rate of about 15% a year. By contrast, global coffee consumption is growing at only about 2 per cent.