According to nongnghiep.vn
Analysts predict “thirst” ca pheh The growing number in China will be the driving force for coffee import and export activities in the future when not only Beijing and Shanghai but many other cities in the country start trading in this beverage.
China’s growing demand for coffee is an opportunity for international brands such as Starbucks and Tim Hortons to boost investment, despite facing many major challenges when opening a series of stores and having to compete with competitors. domestic store.
Data from the International Coffee Organization shows that coffee consumption in China in the first nine months of 2023 increased 15% over the same period last year, to 3.08 million bags.
“Chinese consumers are increasingly embracing the Western lifestyle and coffee is clearly one of the drinks that represents that,” said Jason Yu, managing director of market research firm Kantar Worldpanel. .
The number of branded coffee shops in China has increased 58% in the past 12 months to 49,691, according to Alegra Group, a company that tracks the growth of coffee chains.
There is fierce competition between domestic and international coffee chains, said Matthew Barry, an analyst at Euromonitor. “Parties are trying to grab as much market share as possible in this growing market,” he said.
Alegra Group estimates Luckin Coffee’s coffee chain Central Quoc has opened 5,059 more stores in the past 12 months, while another Chinese chain, Cotti Coffee, has opened 6,004 more stores in the same period.
A store of Luckin Coffee, one of China’s largest coffee brands, in Beijing. Image: ChinaDaily.
“With such a market size, domestic and international coffee chains will have to compete fiercely with each other and I think that will make the market extremely exciting in the next few years,” Mr. Barry said.
American coffee chain Starbucks opened 700 stores in China in the past year and said it will open up to 9,000 stores in the country by 2025, while Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons plans to open 3,000 stores. in this country in the next 4 years.
Massive coffee shop openings are taking place in China’s smaller cities, where millions of residents live, Jason Yu said. “So basically what that means is there’s still a lot of room for coffee chains to grow,” he said.
Zhao Zixi, a 20-year-old Beijing student, said he drinks coffee every day. “I started drinking coffee since I went to college. I don’t like drinking tea like my dad, mom and grandmother,” Tu Khe Trieu said. Zhao Ruoxuan, a 19-year-old student from Beijing, said that drinking coffee is part of the lifestyle of young people in China.
This is a positive signal for coffee producers, who benefit from rising prices of this commodity due to adverse weather in some growing areas. Coffee price Arabica Futures are currently trading near eight-month highs, while coffee Robusta reached a 15-year high last week.
China mainly imports coffee from Africa and South America.
Brazilian coffee export group Cecafe said shipments to China nearly tripled in 2023, exceeding 1 million bags for the first time, making China the 8th largest market.
The US Department of Agriculture estimates that China will consume 5 million bags of coffee in the 2023-2024 crop year, making the country the 7th largest coffee consumer in the world.
China’s coffee consumption is relatively low when compared to the US and Brazil, which consume more than 20 million bags per year. However, the growing demand for coffee shows that China is facing a cultural change similar to many other tea-loving Asian countries such as Japan and Korea.
