Where should China's coffee industry go at the crossroads?

Yunnan net (Reporter Fang Min) China's coffee industry has been under the crackdown of foreign multinational corporations. If foreign companies own a general term and use it as a special commodity name, then large companies like Nestl é, you only need to sit and charge "coffee shop partner infringement fees", while China's coffee industry will never emerge. When an industry develops to a certain stage, public resources will inevitably become the focus of contention. The growth and failure of China's leading coffee enterprises are related to the trend of China's coffee industry.

Chinese coffee used to be very small and childish.

For a long time, Chinese people have not formed the habit of drinking coffee. Over the past 30 years of reform and opening up, coffee has also become a symbol of foreign culture. It began to be locally popular in China. Coffee is still a luxury and high-end consumer goods in the eyes of most of the Chinese public. As a consumer brand of coffee, Maxwell, Nestl é and other multinational companies are famous. What's more, Starbucks coffee entered the Imperial Palace, although the cooperation has been suspended, but as an imported coffee is still very strong foreign brands, domestic brands are very weak. The total output value of global coffee is comparable to that of oil, and Chinese coffee enterprises are still in a backward position in today's international market. The world coffee market is basically under the control of multinational corporations. China, an emerging and growing coffee consumption market, is not as good as neighboring Japan, but its potential is limitless. After a difficult growth, Chinese coffee enterprises began to have a little embryonic form.

More than 90% of China's coffee production bases are concentrated in Yunnan, while China's coffee beans have been supplied to overseas multinational companies in the form of raw materials for many years and have always played the role of selling primary raw material products, but now Chinese coffee people can already say "no". Hougu Coffee Co., Ltd., a leading Chinese coffee company, refuses to "marry", leading China's coffee to end the era of raw material supply. Hougu Coffee, the only national leader in China's coffee industry and once Nestl é's largest raw material supplier in China, has announced to Nestle that it will cut its supply of raw materials to Nestl é and will no longer supply Nestl é with raw materials. At present, China's coffee industry enterprises are in a state of small disarray, and few of them are truly large-scale and competitive, let alone those who can compete with Nestle, a century-old store. China's coffee industry is growing unstoppably and will not always be small and naive. China's coffee companies are beginning to have their own voice.

Chinese coffee needs its own brand.

Chinese coffee needs its own brand. At present, there are few influential brands in China. Shangdao Coffee, Starbucks, Nestle and other brands are ranked at the top of the list in the minds of consumers. Shangdao is famous, but it is not a mainland brand, but a Taiwanese brand. Hougu is the only well-known brand that can be famous in China.

"small, scattered, messy and soft" is one of the current situation of coffee products in China, while the international coffee giants who have been salivating and covetously watching our market for many years have made use of the current situation of scattered sand in our coffee to make strong beaches in our market for years. With abundant funds, leading marketing means and strong brand effect, they have made a steady stream of profits in our market. While these foreign brands have taken away buckets of gold from the big gold mine of China's coffee market, they also take advantage of the weak market design strength and poor information of domestic coffee enterprises to intentionally or unintentionally create barriers to suppress national coffee enterprises. it has created a strange circle in the domestic market: making a lot of money-- investing in market development-- suppressing national coffee enterprises-- making a lot of money. It has caused a great blow to the immature coffee industry of our country. Industry insiders appeal: China's coffee enterprises have been in a low level of competition such as a price war for a long time, including few of the best enterprises in production, sales, service, publicity, and resource management systems. Almost completely marginalized.

For such a fact, to build a coffee industry cluster in China is an important choice. So a private enterprise-- Big Wedding Coffee Trading Co., Ltd. resolutely undertakes this important task with the sense of responsibility of private enterprises, invests a large amount of money to expand the domestic market, and is determined to build a well-known Chinese coffee brand.

Hougu Coffee has been committed to creating the first image of China's coffee industry, with a real pace towards its own goal. Dehong Hougu Coffee has developed into the largest integrated enterprise of coffee planting, processing and deep processing in China over the years. The "Hougu" trademark was named as a famous trademark in Yunnan Province. In order to promote the rapid development of Yunnan coffee industry and strengthen the company, Hongtian Group successfully introduced Yunnan Industrial Investment Management Co., Ltd., a strategic investor, in 2007. The two sides jointly established Dehong Hougu Coffee Co., Ltd., as a platform for both sides to develop the coffee industry, and took it as the main body of the listing. The company's registered capital is 150 million yuan. The company has more than 700 employees, including more than 400 coffee technicians. By 2008, the company has developed a total of 100000 mu of coffee, of which 63000 mu has its own base, driving farmers to develop 37000 mu and nearly 30, 000 households. The company has built a new production line of 3000 tons of instant coffee powder, which has been fully put into production in September 2008.

The company's development model is to innovate the operation and management mode of agricultural industrialization. Through the implementation of the operation and management measures of "one control, two exemptions, three guarantees and four unification", we can establish a close, long-term and win-win relationship with farmers, effectively drive farmers to get rich and consolidate the resource base for the development of enterprises. First control: control planting procedures and standards; second exemption: free provision of seedlings and free technical services for the whole process; three guarantees: investment, output and price; four unity: unified acquisition, unified processing, unified sales, unified brand. At the same time, implement the development model of industry back-feeding agriculture, through the brand marketing of deep processing to achieve industrial value-added benefits. Actively introduce advanced technology at home and abroad, through the vertical extension of the coffee industry chain, build a diversified modern coffee production system with integrated development of seed production and marketing, and maximize the value of the coffee industry chain through brand marketing. Hougu plans to become one of the top six companies in the world coffee industry within 6 years. In 2008, it realized 150 million yuan in sales income and 10 million yuan in profits and taxes; in 2009, it realized 350 million yuan in sales income and 70 million yuan in profits and taxes; in 2010, it realized sales income of 700 million yuan and profits and taxes of 100 million yuan. It plans to go public in 2011.

After years of efforts and building, Hougu has become a "made in China" coffee brand, all thanks to the "made in Yunnan" of Chinese coffee. According to the statistics of Yunnan Provincial Department of Agriculture, in 2008, the planting area of coffee in Yunnan Province reached 350000 mu, with an output of 28000 tons. 98% of the planting area and output of Chinese coffee were in Yunnan. Hougu is the coffee manufacturer with the highest output in the country. No matter from the taste, quality, and other aspects have reached the domestic first-class level. Yunnan, as the main coffee producing area in China, accounts for more than 80% of the country's small-grain coffee production. Nestl é and McDonnell's two international coffee giants also take 40% of the coffee raw materials from Yunnan every year. Market participants said that there are few coffee brands that can compete with international giants, and the deep processing chain of coffee needs to be extended. The 10, 000-ton instant coffee production line project with an investment of about 463 million mu was officially launched in Dehong on May 27th, 2009. This is an important measure to realize the brand expansion strategy of Dehong Hougu Coffee Co., Ltd., one year after the completion of China's largest instant coffee production line (3000 tons) on May 27th, 2008. After the project is put into production, the company will achieve an annual sales income of 800 million yuan. This move indicates that the pattern of China's coffee industry will be reshuffled again, based on China, looking at the world, revitalizing the development of Chinese coffee national brands, is irreversible rise and growth. Chinese coffee will have its own well-known brand.

"Coffee companion": can only Nestle have it?

The growth of the coffee industry, in addition to the enhancement of its own strength, the recognition of the market is also very important. "Coffee companion" is a kind of planting fat accompanied by the emergence of coffee drinks, that is to say, a kind of coffee seasoning. The familiar "coffee companion" (commonly known as "cream") has a wide variety of products with different functions and a wide range of applications, and its production history can be traced back to the 1950s. Now it has been widely used in baked food ingredients, cold food ingredients, candy ingredients, solid beverage ingredients. The main function of using plant fat powder as coffee companion in coffee is to improve the taste, provide balanced nutrition and give the product a "milky feeling". What is it? The ingredient says: the first ingredient is "glucose syrup", a slightly sweet mixture that thickens the solution after hydrolysis of starch. The second ingredient is "hydrogenated vegetable oil", a semi-solid oil formed by artificial catalytic hydrogenation of soybean oil or rapeseed oil. The third ingredient is sodium caseinate, followed by three types of food additives: stabilizers, emulsifiers and anticaking agents.

"Coffee companion" is a general term. Major brands such as Shangdao Coffee and Maxwell, which we are familiar with, all produce coffee partners who are linked to their brand names. Nestl é believes that the trademark "Coffee partner" is an original brand name of Nestl é, which comes from the "COFFEE-MATE" trademark that Nestl é Group has used globally for more than half a century. In Chinese mainland, "COFFEE-MATE" and "coffee companion" trademarks were granted the exclusive right of trademark registration as early as 1989; in Hong Kong and Taiwan, the time of obtaining the exclusive right of trademark registration can be traced back to the sixties and seventies of the last century. Nestl é's "COFFEE-MATE" and "Coffee companion" trademarks have long been widely used in the "fat powder" series of products, and are clearly registered trademarks. Nestl é has always spared no effort to protect its legally held intellectual property rights and will continue to crack down on violations of its intellectual property rights.

The name "coffee partner" has made a number of Chinese coffee companies the subject of complaints from the world's top 500 companies, Nestl é. Coffee companies in Hangzhou, Shanghai and Qingdao have also been punished for using the word "coffee companion" seasoning bag. Yunnan Dehong Hougu Coffee Co., Ltd., a leading enterprise in Yunnan coffee industry, has not been spared. At the beginning of this month, the Panlong District Industry and Commerce Bureau seized Hougu's "coffee companion" products on the grounds that Nestl é complained that Hougu Coffee used the "coffee partner" trademark, and confiscated 12000 packets of "coffee companions" produced by Hougu Coffee Company in April. Chinese coffee shop enterprises hope that Nestl é will take the initiative to apply to the State Trademark Administration to cancel the trademark registration of "coffee partner", so as to level the playing field in China's coffee market. Whether "coffee companion" can become a common word in China's coffee industry is related to the future of China's coffee market. At present, the cultivation, output and export of coffee in our province occupy the first place in the country. Coffee is the export commodity of Yunnan, second only to tobacco and flowers.

Xiong Xiangjin, president of Yunnan Coffee Industry Association, said that if Nestl é is not willing to apply for cancellation of the "coffee partner" trademark registration, Yunnan Coffee Industry Association and Hougu Coffee Company will join hands with other domestic coffee industry associations and coffee enterprises to file an application for objection to the trademark registration of "coffee partner" to the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board of the State Administration of Industry and Commerce, requesting the State Administration of Industry and Commerce to cancel the registration of the "coffee partner" trademark. Make "coffee partner" a common term in China's coffee industry.

In this regard, Nestle's attitude remains unchanged, and a protracted lawsuit is inevitable.

Article 11 of China's Trademark Law stipulates: "the following marks shall not be registered as trademarks:... Only the common name, figure and model of this commodity. " The purpose of this provision is to prohibit the exclusive use of common names. What is a common name? It generally refers to the name of a certain kind of trademark that is commonly used within a certain range.

Dehong Hougu Coffee Co., Ltd. regrets that the traditional common name "coffee companion" is a trademark that has been registered for more than 20 years. The name "coffee companion" has been used by many enterprises, and as a common word used by enterprises in the industry, it is a trademark that has been registered for more than 20 years. This situation means that the name can no longer be used for similar products produced and processed by local enterprises, and most of the enterprises in the industry cannot accept it.

The Crossroads of China's Coffee Industry Coffee Industry needs to be integrated

China's coffee industry has grown from scratch, from small to large. The important thing is that the Chinese coffee market is a very attractive big cake. Foreign brands have been operating in the Chinese market for many years, and it is impossible to give up. No enterprise can grow up naturally without competition and without wind and rain. There is such a fact that the coffee market will reach a market capacity of tens of billions of dollars around 2010. The quality of coffee in China has reached the international first-class level. Some foreign brands have made the high-quality Chinese coffee beans into products to developed countries, while those sold to our country are ordinary products. But the price is not "ordinary" at all. The series of products related to coffee are also related to the major development and trend of the industry.

According to the national authoritative statistics, the annual coffee consumption in China has reached 30 million kilograms. At present, it is growing at a rapid rate of 30 per cent a year. It is estimated that in the next five years, China's coffee service market share will reach 50 billion yuan, China's coffee bar industry market has shown great potential for development. If the Chinese coffee industry can not use the common name, the loss is inestimable. This is not only a lawsuit and success or failure of an enterprise, but also will have a significant impact on the entire Chinese coffee industry.

Yunnan Hougu, the largest coffee grower in China, is standing at the crossroads of transformation. Xiong Xiangjin, chairman of Hougu Coffee Co., Ltd., solemnly announced a few days ago that the company will significantly reduce the scale of Hougu Coffee to provide raw materials to Nestle Coffee, and will make every effort to build its own "Hougu" brand. As the only national leading enterprise in China's coffee industry, Hougu Coffee has provided raw materials to international brands such as Nestle and Starbucks for many years. With the company's move, Hougu Coffee began to move from behind the scenes to the front of the stage. The coffee bean output of Hougu Coffee accounts for about 5% of the national coffee output, and it is the largest coffee growing enterprise in China. At present, the company has 27000 mu of self-owned base and 60, 000 mu of coffee raw material base to promote the development of farmers.

Zou Jiaju, secretary general of the China Beverage Association, believes that if there is a consumer need, there are prospects for development. The exploration of local coffee companies is a good thing for the industry. Chen Yongquan, a professor at the School of Food at South China Agricultural University, believes that for coffee processing enterprises, the processing technology of products is very important, such as the retention of aroma components in the processing process. "but what is more important is the brand. For local coffee enterprises, they need to make more efforts on the brand. Chinese coffee is facing such an environment, if it does not move towards a new commanding height, there will be no way out. The dispute over the common name has the significance of a turning point in the coffee industry. For Chinese coffee enterprises, it is an important contest, no matter how long the road is, no matter how much the price needs to be paid, for the survival space of the industry, for the Chinese coffee industry, it is worth fighting for. If we lose the right to use this common word, the consequences will be sad.

Hougu is the epitome of China's coffee industry. The yardstick of growth is the formation of the brand. Chinese coffee has a back valley, but it should not be just a back valley. The coffee industry needs to be integrated urgently, there is strength in growth, and development is the last word. A level playing field is important for both domestic and international brands.

It is very difficult for China's coffee industry to grow under the strong influence of big foreign brands. if foreign companies own a general term and use it as a special commodity name, then China's coffee industry will never emerge. When an industry develops to a certain stage, public resources will inevitably become the focus of contention. The growth and failure of China's leading coffee enterprises are related to the trend of China's coffee industry.

(source of this article: Yunnan net)