"We come here to seek major distributors to expand our market in China," said Carlos Henrique Jorge Brando, international marketing consultant of Cafes Do Brasil, the official coffee-promotion agency under the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture.

"China will eventually become one of the world's major coffee consumers," Brando told Shanghai Daily. "So we want to secure our foothold here and expand."

China's coffee consumption grows by 20 to 30 percent annually, indicating its huge market potential, said Michael Heath, promotion manager of the London-based International Coffee Organization.

Last year, 24,000 tons of coffee were consumed in the country, doubling that of 1998, said the organization.

China, which has nearly one-fourth of the world's population, currently accounts for less than 1 percent of the global coffee consumption, it said.

"If every Chinese drinks a cup of coffee a year, we'll be very pleased at that consumption level," said Heath.

Brando said the arrival of Cafes Do Brasil poses no challenge to other foreign and local coffee producers.

"There is room for everybody," he said.

Frankie Wu, vice president of Beijing UCC Ueshima Coffee Shop Co. Ltd., agreed, but noted that local coffee producers should improve their quality to meet the international standards of coffee roasters.

Heath said lower coffee prices in China will help further promote coffee consumption in the tea-drinking country.

The Chinese government currently imposes a 20 percent import tax on green coffee beans, 40 percent on roasted and ground coffee, and 60 percent on instant coffee, said the coffee organization.

"The import tax is expected to be cut after China enters the World Trade Organization," Heath said.

Despite China's deep-rooted tea drinking culture, analysts believe a rising number of Chinese are favoring coffee.

"Japan is also a tea-drinking country, but it is one of the world's top six coffee consumers," said Brando. "The same story will happen here."

Since it entered the Chinese market in 1999, Starbucks Corp. has opened 10 coffee outlets in Shanghai and more than 20 in Beijing.

"An increasing number of local people are drinking coffee at Starbucks, representing more than 70 percent of our customers," said Kevin Lin, marketing director of Shanghai President Coffee Corp., a joint venture between the American coffee giant and Taiwan-based catering company the President Group.

(Eastday 04/11/2001)