SHANGHAI, China – The Shanghai Hongqiao International Coffee Harbor, which was certified on August 4 as a coffee trading and exhibition platform, is expected to realize annual trading value of 10 billion yuan ($1.47 billion) beginning in 2025, in line with the objectives set in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), reports China Daily.
The Shanghai Coffee Industry Association was also officially launched on the same day, according to the same source. The establishment of the association allows the harbor to hold talent training events and barista qualifying contests in the future in a bid to enhance Shanghai’s standards for the coffee sector.
“The Shanghai Hongqiao International Coffee Harbor is expected to serve as a center for imports and exports of coffee-related products that can generate a combined trade value of about 10 billion yuan annually, starting from 2025.
And we can get there via seizing opportunities driven by three key elements－talent, trade and brand,” Zhu Jing, deputy general manager of the Shanghai Hongqiao International Import Commodity Exhibition and Trade Co., was quoted as saying.
“Considering the large number of cafes in Shanghai, there will be a need for more than 23,000 baristas in the city. If we can judge a barista’s skills using unified standards, we can help enterprises quickly distinguish talent and further promote the quality enhancement of the overall coffee industry,” said Xia Yuan, general manager of the innovation business division of Tim Hortons China, who was quoted by the same source.
Xia is also head of the expert team for the latest national vocational technical standards for baristas published in June.
The market size of China’s freshly brewed coffee sector rose 41.71 percent year-on-year to 8.97 billion yuan in 2021. It is projected to soar to 15.79 billion yuan ($2.3 billion) by 2023, according to a Meituan report.
