S China's Hainan promotes coffee processing, trade

Sipping coffee is common in south China's Hainan Province, especially in Xinglong town, Wanning city, which boasts of a profound coffee culture.

In the last century, thousands of returned overseas Chinese settled in Xinglong, known as the hometown of overseas Chinese, and brought back the habit of drinking coffee.

Coffee fruits on the tree in Hainan. (People's Daily Online/Meng Fansheng)

However, Hainan coffee had long been plagued by low yield, a small market share, and low public recognition.

To solve the problem, the island province has leveraged the favorable policies of the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) and exceptional geographical advantages to boost coffee processing and trade.

China's coffee market has been booming in recent years. The value of the Chinese coffee market reached 381.7 billion yuan ($53.5 billion) in 2021, according to an estimate from the International Coffee Organization.

A coffee plantation in south China's Hainan Province. (People's Daily Online/Meng Fansheng)

Thanks to the huge Chinese market, Hainan's proximity to the producing areas of coffee raw materials in Southeast Asia, and the dividends from both the RCEP and FTP policies, the province seeks coffee raw materials and customers outside the island. It is expected to become an important coffee trade channel in the world.

Coffee beans produced in Hainan. (People's Daily Online/Meng Fansheng)

In Wanning, M1 Coffee Dream Factory sells nearly 30 kinds of coffee products from coffee-producing areas across the world.

Since 2022, Zhengda (Hainan) Xinglong Coffee Industry Development Co., Ltd. has imported coffee beans from Ethiopia and produced coffee products that better cater to the preferences of Chinese consumers through coffee production lines in Hainan.

Data from the Hainan Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs showed that the province has added three coffee production lines with a combined production capacity of 3,500 tonnes since 2022. The annual processing capacity of coffee products in the island province peaked at 9,000 tonnes.

A barista makes coffee.  (People's Daily Online/Meng Fansheng)

"We need to give full play to the FTP policies to purchase a large number of coffee beans, roast them, and sell processed value-added goods to the markets outside Hainan and international markets," said Gai Wenqi, Party chief of Wanning.

Global coffee enterprises are gradually turning their eyes to Hainan. Coffee products from the province and the world were exhibited at the third China International Consumer Products Expo held in Haikou, capital city of Hainan, in April this year.

International coffee companies including Indonesia's Kapal Api Global and Vietnamese coffee brand Trung Nguyên Legend have inked cooperation agreements with companies in the province. It is reported that Trung Nguyên Legend and local companies will jointly build a coffee industry chain in Chengmai county, Hainan.

"Zero carbon coffee" products are displayed at the third China International Consumer Products Expo in Haikou, capital city of south China's Hainan Province. (Photo courtesy of Hainan State Farms Tropical Products Industry Co., Ltd.)