Hang two coffee trading center cards a week

On July 12, Yunnan Coffee Trading Center was set up in Pu'er City.

On the afternoon of July 16, Yunnan Coffee Industry Association and Yunnan Fine Coffee Society jointly held a press conference with 27 coffee production and trade enterprises in Yunnan Province at Lianyun Hotel in Kunming. The main content of the press conference was aimed at the "Yunnan Coffee Trading Center", which was set up in Pu'er City a week ago.

On that day, the atmosphere at the meeting was somewhat dignified, with dozens of media present in addition to the representatives of the above-mentioned 27 enterprises. Xiong Xiangren, chairman of Hougu Coffee (who is also the president of the Yunnan Coffee Industry Association) and a number of coffee companies have expressed dissatisfaction with the "Yunnan Coffee Trading Center", which was established in Pu'er a week ago. This even includes Pu'er local coffee production and trading enterprises.

Within a week, two signs about coffee trading centers appeared one after another, and for a while, there was a tense battle over the construction of a coffee trading center in Yunnan.

Yunnan Coffee Trading Center set up in Pu'er City.

More than 20 coffee production and trading enterprises in Yunnan Province have set up a preparatory committee for Yunnan Coffee spot Trading Center in Kunming. Supply drawing

It's time for Yunnan to build a coffee trading center.

Behind the competition for coffee trading centers, few would doubt that after more than 20 years of development, it is time to build a coffee trading center in Yunnan.

According to the data from Yunnan Coffee Industry Association, so far, the planting area of coffee in Yunnan has exceeded 1.5 million mu, and is still expanding. According to normal estimates, the total output of coffee in Yunnan will exceed 120000 tons during the 2014-2015 harvest season. Whether in terms of planting area or output, coffee in Yunnan Province has accounted for more than 98% of the national coffee production and planting area.

In addition, China's coffee consumption market is growing rapidly, and China's coffee demand is growing at a rate of 15% per cent per year, far exceeding the world average of 2 per cent. The huge coffee consumption market in China in the future will mean a great opportunity for Yunnan coffee industry.

However, the awkward reality is that although Yunnan is the largest coffee producing area in China, Yunnan accounts for only about 1% of the global coffee market. In the past few years, coffee growers and trading enterprises, including the government, have been increasing the planting area of coffee in order to gain a say with their production. According to the estimate of 12 tons in the 2014-2015 harvest season, compared with the output of about 60, 000 tons in the 2012-2013 harvest season, the output of coffee in Yunnan Province has doubled in just two years.

However, during the two years when the planting area and output of coffee in Yunnan increased rapidly, under the influence of international coffee prices, the price of coffee beans in Yunnan also experienced a sharp decline, falling from about 40 yuan / kg at the peak to about 12 yuan / kg, once falling below the cost price. Although prices rose slightly at the end of the last harvest season, which just ended.

In fact, in order to gain a voice, the Yunnan Coffee Industry Association announced through a press conference as early as a year ago that it would prepare to set up a coffee trading center, but it has been slow to do so. Obviously, the establishment of a coffee trading center has become widely expected. But the trading center has not been built, and the smoke of gunpowder has risen.

Who will build it?

Under the multi-party competition, then, who should build the coffee trading center in Yunnan Province?

At a press conference organized by the coffee industry association on July 16, the focus of 27 enterprises' dissatisfaction was that Jinyuan Flowers, an investor in the "Yunnan Coffee Trading Center" led by the Pu'er municipal government, in the view of the above-mentioned enterprises, this is a pure "layman" enterprise, "they neither grow and produce coffee, nor trade coffee".

Lin Yingxue, chairman of Yunnan Zhengding Coffee Co., Ltd., said: "China has the ability and conditions to become a big coffee consumer in the world, but the establishment of coffee exchanges should be operated by people who really understand the coffee market." it is also one of the main sponsors of the Preparatory Committee for Yunnan Coffee spot Trading Center, and participated in the unveiling ceremony on the day of its establishment.

Zhu Zhihang, chairman of Yunnan Xiaojixiang Coffee Co., Ltd., another sponsor, said frankly that the main purpose of launching the "Yunnan Coffee spot Trading Center Preparatory Committee" in Kunming is to directly target the "Yunnan Coffee Trading Center" listed in Pu'er. "We don't want laymen to lead us."

The "layman" in the words of the above-mentioned enterprises is precisely the Yunnan Jinyuan Flower Industry Co., Ltd., which held the project signing ceremony in Pu'er on July 12. It is currently the largest company in Yunnan Province to cultivate, plant, and sell flower seedlings. The company is currently preparing to attack the capital market.

But for Jinyuan flowers, a label that can not be ignored is Kunming International Flower auction and Trading Center. The center is the holding subsidiary of Jinyuan Flowers. After its completion in 2002, Kunming International Flower auction Center has been in operation for 12 years this year. It is currently the largest flower auction and trading center in China. In the past 12 years, relying on the influence of the whole auction center, fresh cut flowers in Yunnan have been able to influence the price trend of fresh flowers in the whole country and even in Southeast Asia.

After signing the agreement of "Yunnan Coffee Trading Center" with the Pu'er municipal government, as the deputy general manager of Jinyuan Flowers, Shu Yang has been following the trends of the coffee industry, including the contents of the press conference held by the Yunnan Coffee Industry Association. Shu Yang has also heard of it.

In fact, as one of the listed parties, Shu Yang does not think that Jinyuan flowers is a "layman", at least in the construction of the trading center, they have more experience.

"the experience of Kunming International Flower auction Center can be used for reference by almost all Yunnan plateau characteristic agriculture." Shu Yang said, "it was precisely because of the experience of Jinyuan flowers in the construction of flower auction centers that the Pu'er municipal government found Jinyuan flowers, so the Yunnan Coffee Trading Center was established." It is understood that before the establishment of the center, Jinyuan flowers had conducted a 10-month survey of the coffee industry. in Shu Yang's view, the current coffee industry in Yunnan is very much like the flower industry ten years ago, with great prospects and space for the development of the industry, but in the trading link, there is no systematic way of trading, resulting in a great bottleneck in the development of the industry. "the construction of a coffee trading platform is now a top priority." It is worth noting that at present, Jinyuan Flowers has begun to recruit reserve cadres of coffee exchanges on major recruitment websites.

In the face of doubts in the coffee industry, Shu Yang said: "Jinyuan flowers will not involve any link in coffee production and cultivation." in his view, Jinyuan flowers are more suitable to be coffee trading centers. "the trading center is only a service platform, and as a third party that does not involve coffee production, can we design trading rules from a more fair point of view. We are just waiters and referees, not athletes. At the same time, in order to attract the participation of coffee enterprises, Jinyuan Flowers reserved some shares for coffee enterprises in the equity allocation of the trading center, but Shu Yang did not disclose the specific reservation ratio.

According to the industry insiders who have been engaged in exchange management for many years, "judging from the current situation of both sides, everyone has the qualifications and reasons to be the coffee trading center of Yunnan Province, one with experience and the other with resources."

Where is it built?

Apart from who will build the game between the two coffee trading centers listed within a week, another focus of the game is, where should the trading center be built? Pu'er, Kunming? Or somewhere else.

A number of coffee companies at a press conference on the same day said they hoped to set up a coffee trading center in Yunnan Province in Kunming. Li Gongqin, secretary-general of Yunnan Coffee Industry Association, said: "We hope to set up coffee trading centers in Kunming and then set up sub-centers in various major producing areas." Xiong Xiangren also analyzed that the coffee trading center is located in Kunming, first, the transportation location advantage is stronger; second, the financial environment is more developed than Pu'er; third, there are more financial talents and businessmen; fourth, Kunming has a drier climate and is more suitable for the storage of coffee beans. "in the long run, the establishment of a coffee trading center in Kunming will help attract growers and traders from coffee producing areas in Southeast Asia and South Asia, and have the opportunity to develop into a coffee trading center in Asia," Xiong said.

However, Shu Yang has different views on the location of the exchange. In his view, Pu'er, as the main coffee producing area in Yunnan, has gathered growers, producers and traders, including big international brands such as Nestle and Starbucks. The coffee market is relatively mature. More importantly, as a service platform, the coffee trading center is essentially to serve farmers and coffee enterprises. This determines that the coffee trading center must be an on-site trading center. Just like the Kunming International Flower auction Center at that time, it was built in the place of production. Factors such as the financial environment and talents are not very good even in Kunming.

But according to Li Xiang, general manager of Wenshan Sanqi Electronic Commerce Co., Ltd., where the coffee exchange is built looks important, but it doesn't really matter. The key also depends on the mastery of resources. If the trading center is built in Kunming, the mastery of resources may not be as good as Pu'er. But if the industry unites to resist, it will certainly not do a good job. At present, electronic transactions are global, so location is not the most important. "the trading center looks like a circulation industry, but in fact, it is more of a financial industry, so a more important point than location is the need for people who know something about the industry and know a lot about the operation of the exchange."

In addition, it is also worth noting that where the trading center is built, the driving role of the local government can not be ignored. Coffee as an important economic business card of Pu'er city, the Pu'er municipal government has been very active in promoting the construction of coffee trading center. According to relevant media reports, Yang Weidong, vice mayor of Pu'er, said at the launching ceremony of Pu'er on the same day: "the municipal party committee and municipal government of Pu'er will regard the coffee trading center project as the key work of the whole city, and mobilize all available forces to fully support the construction of the project, so as to ensure the smooth completion of Yunnan coffee trading center." Hand in a satisfactory answer to the provincial party committee, the provincial government and the Guangfa coffee practitioners in the province. "

Some coffee enterprises also raised objections to this. The "Yunnan Coffee Trading Center" listed in Pu'er is the result of the leadership of the local government, and there is no participation of coffee enterprises.

According to Li Xiang, from the trading centers or exchanges across the country, almost all of them have the support of local governments, giving policies and endorsing exchanges, but many local government officials do not know much about the exchanges, and sometimes they only see the bright side. But ignore the risks behind. In his view, in addition to the support of the government, what is more important is the professional operation team and personnel, especially the risk control. Most of the problems, including the collapse of agricultural exchanges across the country this year, lie in risk control.