How Yunnan Coffee Becomes "Big Coffee"

Just after Frosts Descent's solar terms, major coffee producing areas such as Pu'er, Baoshan and Lincang in Yunnan have entered the busiest coffee harvest season. Recently, the Yunnan Coffee Industry Association held a media meeting in Kunming and revealed that in the new harvest season, Yunnan coffee production is expected to be close to 100000 tons.

However, due to the lack of famous brands of Yunnan coffee, consumers' recognition and trust are not high, especially in the international market. How to refine Yunnan coffee with high quality and low price into a "big shot" has become a problem that the industry is thinking about.

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Good quality

Supply Starbucks, Nestle and other international well-known enterprises

"in China, the impression that coffee is' imported'is still deep-rooted." Hu Lu, deputy secretary general of Yunnan Coffee Industry Association, said that in fact, coffee has been grown in Yunnan for more than a hundred years. As early as 1892, French missionaries entered Yunnan and planted the first coffee seedling in Binchuan County, Dali. In recent years, the large-scale cultivation of coffee in Yunnan has developed rapidly, and the planting area has been expanded to Pu'er, Dehong, Baoshan, Lincang, Xishuangbanna and other places more suitable for coffee growth.

"the unique natural environmental conditions, such as temperature, soil and water, and altitude, determine that Yunnan has unparalleled innate advantages in growing coffee in the country." Hu Lu said: at present, in Guangxi, Sichuan, Hainan and other places, although a small number of areas grow a small amount of coffee, Yunnan is the only one that has really formed a large-scale coffee industry.

According to the statistics of Yunnan Coffee Industry Association, the planting area of coffee in Yunnan has exceeded 1.4 million mu in 2013. In the new harvest season, Yunnan coffee production is expected to be close to 100000 tons. Yunnan coffee acreage and output account for more than 98% of China's coffee.

Xu Zhengxiong, chairman of Baoshan Hemei Coffee Industry Co., Ltd., said that Yunnan mainly produces small-grain coffee, which tastes strong but not strong, fragrant but not bitter, and slightly sour. Starbucks, Nestl é and other international well-known enterprises are purchasing Yunnan small-grain coffee.

According to the reporter's understanding, in 2010, Starbucks signed a memorandum with the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Pu'er municipal government to ensure long-term high-quality coffee supply, including the establishment of the world's first coffee planting base in Yunnan and the first coffee grower support center in Asia, equipped with facilities such as coffee processing plants and research and development centers.

Li Gongqin, secretary general of the Yunnan Coffee Industry Association, gave a set of figures: last season, Yunnan produced 82000 tons of coffee, of which 59400 tons were used for export, earning a foreign exchange of 148 million US dollars.

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The brand is not famous.

Lack of voice in the international market

"is the coffee in Yunnan good? good! Do you want to buy it? I won't buy it. " Xu Zhengxiong talked helplessly about his conversation with some domestic coffee buyers, indicating that Yunnan coffee is in an awkward position. Xu Zhengxiong said frankly that domestic coffee enterprises and consumers do not have a high degree of awareness of Yunnan coffee, and the main reason may be that Yunnan coffee has been mainly exported as raw materials for a long time, and the cultivation and development of the domestic market is not enough.

Li Gongqin also said that the proportion of Yunnan coffee consumed in China is indeed very small. In 2012, domestic coffee consumption was about 130000 tons, of which Yunnan coffee consumption was less than 20, 000 tons. Yunnan has been growing coffee for many years. At present, there are hundreds of large and medium-sized coffee enterprises, but only 18 coffee brands, which itself is very abnormal. To be exact, Yunnan coffee does not have a famous big brand in the domestic market, and this problem is also worthy of attention.

Due to the lack of popularity of the brand and the fact that Yunnan coffee production accounts for only 1% of the world's total coffee output, Yunnan coffee lacks a say in the international market, and the purchase price of Yunnan coffee is greatly affected by the international market.

According to the Yunnan Coffee Industry Association, the current futures price of coffee in New York (first-class coffee rice) remains between 110 cents and 115 cents per pound. Compared with this price, the purchase price of Yunnan coffee is expected to not exceed 15 yuan per kilogram this harvest season.

Luo Jinming, a farmer in Dakaihe Village, Simao District, Pu'er City, calculated an account for the reporter: according to the current price level, the cost of producing one kilogram of fresh fruit is about 2.2 yuan for land rent, labor, fertilizer, management and protection, and harvesting. According to the fresh-to-dry ratio of 5 ∶ 1, the cost of processing one kilogram of dried coffee with shell beans is 11 yuan. If calculated according to the rice yield of 75%, one kilogram of coffee with shell beans can be processed into 0.75 kilograms of coffee rice, and the cost price of each kilogram of coffee rice is about 14.67 yuan.

Hu Lu further explained that the transaction price mainly includes the purchase price and transportation cost of coffee and rice. In order to keep the trading price in line with the futures price, in fact, when many companies buy coffee in Yunnan, the purchase price is 5 to 15 cents lower than the New York futures price to set aside transportation costs. In this way, the purchase price is likely to fall below the cost price.

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Spring in Dianka

There's still a long way to go.

In response to the possible "price cold winter" of Yunnan coffee, some member units of the Yunnan Coffee Industry Association have reached an agreement: no matter what the futures price of coffee in New York is, these enterprises will buy at a price of 15 yuan per kilogram, in order to reduce the loss of interests of farmers. And to really usher in the "spring blossoms", Yunnan coffee obviously still has a long way to go.

Li Gongqin believes that the potential of the coffee market is huge, according to the current output of coffee in Yunnan, even the domestic market can not meet. Only by speeding up the cultivation of leading enterprises with intensive processing ability, establishing brand clusters, realizing industrial integration, and making the market mechanism of survival of the fittest really run, can Yunnan coffee industry form a joint force and get rid of the position of raw material suppliers. Really stand up. Yunnan Coffee Industry Association also called on member enterprises to actively learn from foreign coffee brands.

"at a time when prices are in the doldrums, Yunnan coffee companies are just looking for gaps and practicing internal skills." Li Gongqin said, "Why do purchasing enterprises and consumers think that coffee from abroad is good? Why are people willing to buy high-priced coffee instead of ours? It is not so much trust in the brand as trust in quality and monitoring of the details behind. Yunnan coffee enterprises should reflect on how to cultivate awareness and trust. "

Yang Zhiqi, chairman of Lincang Lingfeng Coffee Industry Development Co., Ltd., expressed concern about the quality of Yunnan coffee picking and processing. In order to save labor costs, some farmers pick coffee without waiting for it to turn red, causing damage to its quality, he said. Some farmers use small equipment to peel and degumm the coffee beans, and then take them to the patio and the roadside to dry. If it rains in the meantime, mildew may also occur. Therefore, we should do a good job in improving the quality of farmers, as well as coffee planting, picking, primary processing and other links, can not be ignored.

"the rise and fall of prices is the law of the market, and we should not complain about it. According to the previous law, the depressed market is bound to pick up. " Li Gongqin advised farmers not to cut down coffee trees indiscriminately, but also hoped that more cafes in China could use Yunnan coffee, and more Chinese could consume Yunnan coffee. "Yunnan coffee is worth a try!"

A little knowledge

The west and south of ● Yunnan Province are located between 15 °N and the Tropic of Cancer, and most areas are 1000-2000 m above sea level. The topography is dominated by mountains and slopes, with large ups and downs, fertile soil, sufficient sunshine, rich rainfall and large temperature difference between day and night. These unique natural conditions form the particularity of Yunnan small grain coffee taste-strong but not bitter, fragrant but not strong, slightly fruity. As early as the 1950s, Yunnan small seed coffee was very popular in the international coffee market and was rated as the top grade of coffee.

The planting history of ● coffee in Yunnan can be traced back to 1892. A French missionary brought coffee to Yunnan from abroad and successfully planted it in a valley in Binchuan County, Yunnan Province. The coffee plants of this batch of coffee seeds are still blooming and fruiting in Binchuan County.

● Yunnan coffee was planted on a large scale in the mid-1950s. Yunnan coffee has established its dominant position in China in terms of planting area and coffee bean production. The suitable planting areas of coffee in Yunnan are distributed in Simao, Xishuangbanna, Wenshan, Baoshan and Dehong in the south and southwest of Yunnan.

China Coffee Trading Network: www.gafei.com