Jamaica sends first coffee shipment to China

Jamaica sends first coffee shipment to China    Jamaica's Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries this week announced the country's first shipment of green coffee beans to China.
   The shipment was consigned to Zhejiang Dunn's River Import and Export Co. Ltd., which is the corporate body formed to handle commercial transactions of the Hangzhou Coffee and Western Foods.
   The first batch of 16,500 kilograms of coffee is expected to arrive in Ningbo, China, from where it will be trucked to Hangzhou, China, the 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 1,000 70-kilogram barrels of Jamaican coffee at an estimated value of $2 million. The first shipment has an approximate 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.
   'The consumption of coffee is very small in China, but the country already consumes close to 1 million bags mostly of lower quality Robusta coffee. This is mostly used in the production of instant coffee,' said Jamaican Agriculture Minister Christopher Tufton, in a statement.
   He noted that 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.'