- To deepen the footprint of Rwanda’s coffee in China Anthony Chen, 27, a businessman from Hangzhou plans to open coffee shops in his city, serving exclusively Rwandan coffee
- China has many international coffee brands competing for clientele. But People in China are developing a taste for Rwandan Coffee. To deepen the footprint of Rwanda’s coffee in China Anthony Chen, 27, a businessman from Hangzhou plans to open coffee shops in his city, serving exclusively Rwandan coffee by December this year.
Chen said revealed that he proposes to further promote Rwanda’s coffee and showcase its quality to Chinese consumers.
Chen has started negotiations with Rwandan coffee producers and in August this year, he imported up to 5,000 kilograms of Gorilla Coffee Beans and rebranded it into various products for his country’s market.
Chen said revealed that he proposes to further promote Rwanda’s coffee and showcase its quality to Chinese consumers.
With a large market size of over a billion people, and several local and multinational coffee companies present, the coffee market in China is highly competitive. Many global coffee brands like USA’s Starbucks, UK’s Costa Coffee, Canada’s Tim Horton’s, have established their presence in China serving a largely youthful Chinese population who have developed a coffee-drinking culture.
China imports significant quantities of coffee from countries like Colombia, Ethiopia, and Kenya. Chen acknowledges that Rwandan Coffee is lesser-known when compared to these other countries’ products. However, he sees this as an opportunity with quality being the main selling point. He is also keen to import more Rwandan products like macadamia nuts and chili oil which also have a market in China.
It is hoped that the initiative would enable the recovery of coffee exports of Rwanda which dropped in the previous fiscal year largely due to the Covid-19 pandemic that disrupted the demand for the commodity.
