STiR coffee and tea magazine

32 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 2, 2018 (April / May) C KaFei China World's Largest Coffee Producers 2017 (in 1,000 60-kilogram bags) China is now one of the world's top arabica producing nations Pu'er Aini Coffee Garden is one of nine model coffee farms in Yunnan Province, China hina is capable of growing and processing enough commercial and specialty grade coffee to rank among the world's top five producing and consuming markets. The massive country of 1.38 billion people can comfortably rely on a single southwestern province (Yunnan) to meet rapidly rising domestic demand that exceeded 3.2 million 60-kilo bags last year. This is because today Chinese drink very little coffee — but that is quickly change. Canada, with a population of 37 million, will consume 4.87 million bags in 2018 (enough to make 100 liters per person) and the US, the world's largest coffee con- suming nation, drank the equivalent of 25,780 60-kilo bags last year, according to the International Coffee Organization (ICO). While China ranks 12th overall in production and is the world's seventh largest arabica grower, exports are minimal and will remain so unless prices rise and the country expands its cof- fee processing capabilities to add value. Will China become a coffee producer to rival Ethiopia, or Honduras, or someday even Colombia? Debutante ball China takes this year's highly visible "portrait country" sponsor- ship at SCA's 2018 convention in Seattle. There will be more than 50 Chinese government and company executives at the Yunnan International Coffee Exchange (YCE) booth during the show with as many as 250 Chinese nationals attending. In prepa- ration for their debut, YCE and provincial officials in January hosted the 1st Puer International Specialty Coffee Forum. The forum, trade exposition, cuppings, and farm tours drew influential coffee professionals from around the world. Truth- ful, informative, and data rich presentations made it a "tre- mendous sucess" according to Ted Lingle, a SCA founder and senior advisor to YCE whose three-year contract was recently By Dan Bolton 0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 Brazil Vietnam Colombia Indonesia Honduras Ethiopia India Uganda Peru Mexico Guatemala China 51,500 28,500 14,000 10,800 8,349 7,650 5,333 5,100 4,600 4,000 3,800 2,650 renewed. Lingle calls 2018 "the pivotal year for coffee farmers in Yunnan." "Coffee production in Yunnan will begin the transition from commercial to specialty grades, a path followed by producing countries in Central America, South America, and East Africa during past decades, resulting in a continued decrease in the amount of coffee sold at commercial prices and a continued in- crease in the amount of coffee sold at premium prices," he said. The forum "is the signal that there will be many great things to happen in the future that will significantly benefit Yunnan's coffee farmers," he said. A successful debut at SCA that results in a measurable in- crease in signed contracts leading to profitable exports is a criti- cal test of China's investment in coffee.

• Cover