First Jamaican green coffee beans bound for China

JAMAICA's first shipment of green coffee beans are bound for the China, announced the Jamaican agriculture minister Christopher Tufton.

"The consumption of coffee is very small in China, but it already consumes close to a million bags of lower quality Robusta coffee, mostly used in instant coffee," said Mr Tufton.

But with China's "penchant for expensive and ostentatious gifts that celebrates Chivas Regal, Gucci, Coach and others, this is a prime market for the world's finest Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee," he added.

The consignment goes to Zhejiang Dunn's River Import and Export Co Ltd, which handles commercial transactions for the Hangzhou Coffee and Western Foods.

The first 16,500 kilogramme shipment is to arrive in Ningbo, from where it will be trucked to Hangzhou, the Jamaican ministry said.

In July 2010, the Hangzhou Coffee and Western Foods Association signed a memorandum of understanding with Jamaica's Ministry of Agriculture and the Coffee Industry Board to purchase a thousand 70 kilogramme barrels of Jamaican coffee at US$2 million, reported American Shipper. The first shipment has a sale value of $425,000. Four more shipments will be sent to complete the full contractual obligations of Zhejiang Dunn's River Import and Export Co, the ministry said.
(Source:http://www.schednet.com)