How far is China from being a big coffee consumer?

How far away is China from coffee consumption?

In Fushan Town, which is located in a corner of western Hainan Province, the fragrant coffee shop is full all the year round, and the annual coffee consumption per capita of non-local residents exceeds 200 cups. This amazing consumption has been praised by coffee suppliers from all over the country who come to participate in the International Barista Championship.

"Chinese people are initially interested in coffee culture, which makes me see huge market potential." Melaku Leges, Consul General of the Consulate General of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, said in an interview.

At the 3rd China Fushan Cup International Barista Championship held in Fushan Town, Chengmai County, top players from 12 countries and regions competed for the championship, and more than 200 professionals from all over the world came to promote their own local coffee.

"The Chinese are all about coffee," David, a coffee vendor from Uganda, told reporters."With the advertising of coffee culture and the rise of the middle class, the coffee market here is growing very fast."

As China's overseas drinks become more diversified, coffee gradually combines with good and contemporary life to propose the rapid growth of coffee consumption in China. Statistics show that in 2012, coffee consumption in China was about 130,000 tons, and coffee consumption in China will continue to grow by 15%-20% every year in the future, which is expected to become the most potential coffee consumer in the world.

However, many professionals have revealed that although the growth rate of China's coffee consumption market is gratifying, coffee civilization is not yet childish, regional consumption markets are hot and cold, and at the same time, due to the lack of foreign brands that are about to develop and spread China's foreign coffee civilization.

"The number of coffee shops in China is growing rapidly, but coffee consumers are not following suit." Ji Ming, president of the Beijing Coffee Industry Association, revealed that coffee consumption in Beijing, Shanghai and some other first-line cities and some southern cities has indeed increased rapidly over the past year, but China's current per capita annual coffee consumption is only 5 cups, far lower than Japan and South Korea's annual average of about 300 cups, and the world average value is also around 240 cups.

Huang Huiying, president of the Guangdong Province Food Culture Seminar, believes that coffee has developed into a new favorite of many elderly people's calming drinks, but Chinese coffee civilization is not young enough, and many people drink coffee to catch up with the trend.

In terms of brand development, the Chinese market is currently almost cut by foreign brands. In the freshly ground coffee consumption market, following Starbucks 'strong entry into the Chinese market, international brands such as Seattle Coffee in the United States, Baiyi Coffee in Canada and Second Cup Coffee in Canada have continuously followed up. International brands such as Nestle and Maxwell have a large residual in the instant coffee consumer market.

Hsu Shih-bing, president of the Hainan Coffee Association, revealed that due to astronomical conditions and weather constraints, coffee production in China is currently limited to Yunnan, Hainan and Sichuan. There are many coffee enterprises in China, mainly providing production materials and small coffee enterprises, and the leading enterprises are growing rapidly.

Statistics from Yunnan Province Coffee Industry Association show that in 2013, Yunnan coffee planting area exceeded 1.4 million mu, and its coffee cultivation area and output accounted for more than 90% of Chinese coffee. However, in the 2012 - 2013 season, Yunnan's total coffee bean production was about 82,000 tons, of which more than 50,000 tons of coffee beans were imported overseas.

Due to the lack of standardized identification and monopoly from data cultivation to product manufacturing and coffee brewing, Chinese local coffee enterprises are facing the challenge of specialization, categorization and branding.

"China is urgent to cultivate a number of local brands with strong geographical and civilized characteristics, generally committed to promoting the standardized production of coffee, further spreading coffee culture, nurturing people's consumption fashion, this important government support, but also depends on enterprises themselves to go out more to learn and compete." Ji Ming said.