Kunshan, a county-level city of Suzhou, was awarded the title of “Capital of the International Coffee Industry” by the International Institute of Coffee Tasters at the opening ceremony of the 2024 China Kunshan International Fair for Coffee Industry (COFAIR) on May 16. Oliver Wonekha, Ugandan Ambassador to China, Munteha Jemal, Plenipotentiary Minister of Ethiopia, Gu Haidong, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Suzhou Municipal Committee and vice mayor of Suzhou, and Zhou Wei, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Suzhou Municipal Committee and secretary of the CPC Kunshan Municipal Committee, attended the ceremony.
The COFAIR, co-organized by the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, attracted 15 delegations from coffee producing countries such as Brazil, Colombia and Ethiopia and more than 300 domestic enterprises from provinces like Yunnan and Hainan, covering the whole industrial chain from coffee beans and coffee accessories to coffee products.
At the ceremony, a number of coffee supply chain projects and high-end food and coffee chain brand projects were signed.
In recent years, Kunshan has made great efforts to cultivate the whole coffee industrial chain. Gathering a large number of leading enterprises and flagship projects, the city has become a major coffee importer and processor which has secured its competitive edge in this rapidly expanding market. Currently, Kunshan has an annual coffee roasting capacity of 63,000 tons, accounting for almost 60% of the country’s total.
