云南咖啡的“链”上之旅Yunnan Coffee's Journey on the Chain
The 4th China International Supply Chain Promotion Expo with the theme of "Linking the World and Creating a Shared Future" was held in Beijing from June 22nd to 26th. As the world's first national level exhibition with supply chain as its theme, this year's Chain Expo has set up six major chain and supply chain service exhibition areas, including intelligent technology, advanced manufacturing, green agriculture, healthy living, intelligent vehicles, and clean energy, to build a high-end cooperation platform for stable and smooth global supply chains.
Twelve local coffee companies in Yunnan Province, covering breeding and seedling cultivation, planting and processing, brand operation, and digital trade, have formed a group to showcase the entire industry chain ecology of Yunnan coffee from seeds to cups in the Healthy Life Chain exhibition area. Through the practice and exploration of these participating companies, we can glimpse the clear trend of Yunnan coffee's chain strengthening and open development.
Seeing industrial growth from a seed
During the exhibition, the Yunnan coffee industry chain exhibition area launched daily brand promotion, professional cup testing and tasting, industry chain exchange and docking activities in rotation. 12 participating companies took the stage to share their practical experience, and the achievements of various links in the industry chain such as seed cultivation, deep processing, and integrated innovation were presented at the booth.
The seed industry is the "chip" of the coffee industry and a core topic at multiple promotional events. Kaiyuan Mi Gui Coffee Co., Ltd. introduced its achievements in intelligent seedling cultivation. The enterprise has built a 4000 square meter intelligent seedling greenhouse in Yangjie Township National Modern Agriculture Industrial Park, Kaiyuan City. It uses tissue culture seedling cultivation, intelligent temperature control and other technologies to breed six high-quality varieties on a large scale, including "T8667", "Sachim402", "Yunka1/2" and "Guixia". More than 200000 seedlings have been cultivated and bred in the first phase. Our goal is to create a coffee seed industry radiation center for South Asia and Southeast Asia, and drive the upgrading of planting systems in surrounding production areas, "said He Min, General Manager of Migao Coffee Co., Ltd. at the promotion site. The company has carried out technical cooperation with institutions such as Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Dehong Tropical Agriculture Research Institute to achieve standardized and intelligent seed production, and control quality from the source.
In front of the cup tasting area on one side of the exhibition area, the variety of premium beans brought by Aini Coffee attracted many visitors to stop and try them out. Aini Coffee, which has been deeply involved in the industry for more than 40 years, has accumulated advantages in the field of germplasm resource protection and utilization. The enterprise has established a national coffee gene bank containing 114 high-quality coffee varieties, and the independently cultivated "Guixia" variety has won the championship in the washing category of the Yunnan Coffee Green Bean Competition in 2024 and 2025. Its founder Liu Minghui introduced that the company has pioneered the rainforest planting model in China and has passed the certification of the International Rainforest Alliance, gradually forming a full industry chain development model of variety breeding, ecological planting, deep processing, and cultural tourism integration.
On the other hand, Zhang Lanxue, a staff member of Yunnan Zhenkang Hari Coffee Plantation Co., Ltd., is introducing the company's production capacity layout to visiting buyers. The enterprise also regards seed industry as the first link in quality control, reserving 8 million high-quality seedlings in a 170 acre standardized breeding base, and cooperating with Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences to carry out localized variety improvement. Zhang Lanxue said that relying on a 5400 acre planting base and an AAA level fresh fruit processing plant, the enterprise has an annual processing capacity of 1500 tons of fresh fruits; The first domestic "cultural tourism type" intelligent deep processing factory it has built integrates production, sightseeing, training, and live streaming, and can produce a variety of products such as high-quality roasted beans, hanging ear coffee, freeze-dried black coffee, etc.
Empowering channels to build a new collaborative pattern
On June 23rd, the event to release the list of comparative advantages of the coffee industry chain in Honghe Prefecture was held. Representatives of industry associations, cross-border business professionals, local coffee enterprise leaders and other guests exchanged views on Yunnan Province's location conditions, logistics channels, policy dividends and other aspects. How to transform the geographical advantages along the border into industrial cooperation momentum became the core of the entire event discussion.
Coffee is an international fast-moving consumer goods, and Yunnan's core advantage lies in the cross-border supply chain integration capability brought by its location. "As a representative of local enterprises, Wang Yanhua, General Manager of Kaiyuan Mingji Coffee Co., Ltd., shared practical experience at the event. She introduced that the company is exploring a model of dual country supply of raw materials, local processing of manufacturing, and multi country sales in the market, integrating the coffee green bean resources of Yunnan and Vietnam, and relying on the supporting advantages of Kaiyuan Food Industry Park in Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture to complete deep processing. The products are exported to more than 20 countries and regions, covering Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe, America, Japan, and South Korea markets. In her view, the support of international logistics channels such as the China Laos Railway and the China Vietnam Railway and the opening policy along the border has created conditions for Yunnan to build a regional coffee industry cluster, which is conducive to building a domestic and international dual cycle industrial pattern centering on Yunnan.
Vietnam is the world's second largest producer and exporter of coffee, geographically close to Yunnan, with complementary coffee industry categories. The potential for bilateral trade cooperation is a hot topic on site. Fan Sheng, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association, was invited to speak at the event: "Vietnam will export nearly 55000 tons of coffee to China by 2025, and nearly 32000 tons in the first five months of 2026, with an export value exceeding 177 million US dollars. The rapid growth of China's coffee consumption market brings new opportunities for industrial cooperation between the two countries." He suggested that both sides should strengthen the bridge role of trade promotion institutions and industry associations, establish market information sharing mechanisms, encourage joint ventures in deep processing and logistics fields, promote the implementation of tariff reduction policies, and further deepen industrial synergy with Yunnan.
Multinational leading enterprises are also optimistic about the development potential of Yunnan coffee. In the green agriculture chain exhibition area, the coffee industry exhibition booth of Zhengda Group displays coffee products from the two major production areas of Xinglong in Hainan and Pu'er in Yunnan. According to the staff, the group has laid out the domestic coffee industry with "Hainan in the south and Yunnan in the north". In 2024, Zhengda (Pu'er) Coffee Co., Ltd. was established in Pu'er City, and in early June of this year, it landed at Zhengda Yuanshan Coffee Manor. It will promote the transformation of planting intelligence with laboratory level standards and create a three industry integration project integrating planting, processing, culture and tourism.
Exploring Value Upgrading with Cultural Core
For a long time, Yunnan coffee has mostly entered the global market in the form of raw materials, and the lack of brand recognition and low position in the value chain are prominent shortcomings in the development of the industry. This group exhibition showcases Yunnan coffee companies as a whole, creating an integrated brand influence for Yunnan coffee.
A century old brand is the cultural root of Yunnan coffee brands. Founded in 1923, Nanlaisheng is the first coffee shop in Kunming and a certified "Yunnan Time honored Brand" by the Yunnan Provincial Department of Commerce, witnessing the historical context of Yunnan's modern opening-up to the outside world. At this Chain Expo, Nanlaisheng released a dual series of new products, "Chasing the Wind" and "Chasing the Light": "Chasing the Wind" explores traditional fermentation techniques of the Wa, Dai and other ethnic groups, endowing coffee with unique regional flavors; Zhuguang "focuses on local emerging coffee varieties, showcasing the achievements of variety innovation and quality leap. Xiao Xiao, the brand manager of Nanlaisheng, introduced that during the exhibition, Malaysian merchants have expressed their intention to cooperate and hope to open a Nanlaisheng store locally to tell the story of Chinese coffee to Southeast Asian consumers.
Regional cultural IP has become an important lever for brand differentiation development. The packaging of "Guikali" coffee products under Pu'er Coffee Industry Development Co., Ltd. incorporates local ecological and ethnic elements such as Ailao Mountain, Xihei Crown Gibbon, and Lahu people, creating a distinctive regional brand with oil painting style. Ji Hongyu, a staff member of the company's supply chain division, said that during the exhibition, a Beijing offline coffee shop voluntarily proposed procurement cooperation due to recognition of packaging design, which was an unexpected joy for the company to participate in the exhibition. Mi Rail Coffee, with the China Vietnam Railway National Industrial Heritage as its core IP, has launched the "Mi Rail Memory" cultural and creative coffee series, creating a portable urban cultural and travel companion gift.
Behind the growth of brands is the solid pace of industrial development driving rural revitalization. Dao Delong, General Manager of Yunnan Jinghong Puteng Trading Co., Ltd., stated that the company has adopted a mechanism of joint agriculture and agricultural development, which has driven more than 2700 villagers to participate in the coffee industry. This exhibition aims to introduce the smart planting technology connected to the exhibition into the base, improve planting efficiency, and continue to drive coffee farmers' income growth.
At this Chain Expo, 12 participating companies explored the brand value-added path of Yunnan coffee from different dimensions, allowing domestic and foreign merchants and consumers to intuitively feel the cultural connotation and quality potential of Yunnan coffee, and also accumulating market resources and development experience for local coffee brands to enter a broader market.