The 2023 China-Africa Coffee Industry Cooperation Forum. (Photo/Xiang Yipeng)

The 2023 China-Africa Coffee Industry Cooperation Forum and the African Coffee Promotion Conference were held in the Yuhua Block of the China (Hunan) Pilot Free Trade Zone Changsha Area on March 20, 2023. According to the conference, Hunan Province has initially formed a complete African coffee industrial chain. It is expected that the sales volume of African coffee beans in Hunan will double this year, surpassing the 1,000-ton mark achieved last year.

Yuhua Block is a core area of the Pilot Zone for In-depth China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation. It established an African coffee trading center in the Hunan Gaoqiao Grand Market in 2020. Relying on the two major platforms of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo and the Hunan Pilot Free Trade Zone, the China-Africa coffee industrial chain has been advanced rapidly. Yuhua Block now has made smooth the whole process of African coffee procurement, R&D and production, brand incubation, display and sales, so that the overall cost of coffee is 30% lower than similar products on the market.

The tasting area for five African countries' coffee. (Photo/Xiang Yipeng)

The African coffee products on display. (Photo/Xiang Yipeng)

At the forum, envoys from five African countries in China such as Ethiopia and Uganda introduced their local coffee. "Ethiopia is a major coffee producer in Africa. We have a variety of coffee cultivation techniques such as forest coffee and garden coffee methods. Ethiopian coffee is renowned for its exceptional quality," said Dewano Kedir, deputy head of Mission of Ethiopian Embassy in China. He noted that Ethiopia will gradually expand coffee exports to China and the added value of exports will be increased. Hunan is the best transferrer of Ethiopian coffee, he added.

It was learned that Yuhua Block has been promoting collaboration between coffee companies and coffee production regions in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and other countries through a series of economic and trade matchmaking activities. Meanwhile, it started communication with 22 high-quality coffee bean suppliers in Uganda, to help Ugandan coffee beans enter Chinese market.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Yu Jiangjiang

Chinese source: Chinanews