Brazil's coffee exports to China reach new high

Brazil, the world's largest coffee producer, has witnessed a rapid surge in its coffee exports to China in recent years, hitting a record high in 2023.

In the first half of 2024, over 510,000 bags (each weighing 60 kg) of Brazilian coffee were delivered to Chinese consumers.

In a coffee farm named "Santa Izabel Fazenda" in Minas Gerais state in southeastern Brazil, around 42,000 coffee trees are bearing coffee cherries of 40 different varieties. Just a few years ago, coffee beans grown in this farm started making their way to a new large market -- China.

Marquinho Florezi, the farm's manager, explained the fermentation and drying processes of fresh coffee cherries. "It's a good harvest, and we expect high-quality coffee since there was no rain during maturation. After harvesting, we wash the coffee beans and sort them by color, selecting ripe, green, and drier ones. Then, we place the beans in barrels for fermentation, which lasts 100 hours. This is the first batch to complete fermentation. After this, the coffee will be dried for another seven to ten days," said Florezi.

The processed coffee is usually sent to a nearby export company. The company began exporting coffee to China in 2017 with just 600 bags (each 60 kg) a year. In recent years, exports have increased significantly because of the rising demand and recognition of Brazilian coffee quality in the Chinese market.

"The coffee export volume to China has grown greatly. Last year, we exported about 10,000 bags of coffee (each 60 kg) to China," said Victor Vuolo, the company's manager.

In 2017, Brazil exported fewer than 100,000 bags of coffee to China, but by 2023, that number had risen to nearly 1.5 million sacks, according to data from the Council of Coffee Exporters of Brazil.

"China, which was ranked the 22nd on the list of Brazil's coffee exports until 2022, has now moved up to the sixth place, showing significant growth. Coffee has become a cultural symbol for the Chinese, and Brazil hopes to be the leading partner in supporting the expansion of the coffee culture in China," said Marcos Antonio Matos, general director of the council.

Brazil's coffee exports to China reach new high

Brazil's coffee exports to China reach new high

Brazil's coffee exports to China reach new high

An industrial matchmaking event was held Sunday in Kunming, the provincial capital of southwest China's Yunnan, drawing over 330 billion yuan (over 46 billion U.S. dollars) in investment as the region seeks to attract emerging industries from outside the province.   Themed "Sharing New Advantages of Industrial Transfer, Jointly Building a Highland of International Cooperation," the 2024 China Industrial Transfer and Development Matchmaking Activities (Yunnan) focused on drawing investment into key sectors like biomedicine and information industries in Yunnan, a region rich in energy and natural resources.      Financial institutes like China Development Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and China Merchants Bank will provide financing services for key industrial transfer projects.   "A large part of the signed industrial transfer projects is related to the biomedicine and comprehensive healthcare industry, the photovoltaic industry, the information industry, and the equipment manufacturing industry. So far, such signed projects total 903,  with those of them working to strengthen, extend, and complete the industrial chains accounting for 40 percent, 20 percent, and 40 percent, respectively," said Shi Youlian, deputy director of the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Yunnan Province.   The matchmaking event plays a significant role in helping enterprises up and down the supply chain and the industrial chain to cooperate and building Yunnan into a pilot zone of industrial transfer and an industrial hub that connects South Asia and Southeast Asia, said Jin Zhuanglong, minister of industry and information technology.      "We will push for a gradual industrial transfer from east to central and west China. We will support Yunnan to take advantage of its functional positioning and industrial foundation, absorb relocated industries, and boost the development of its characteristic and competitive industries like the industries of new energy, new materials and biomedicine in an effort to enhance the region's overall strength and capacity for achieving sustainable development," said Jin.

Yunnan holds matchmaking activity to boost transfer of industry