Shanghai's coffee imports surge, with African beans drawing attention at trade fair

(ECNS) – East China's Shanghai imported 2.67 billion yuan (about $370 million) worth of coffee through its ports in the first four months, up 15.5 percent year-on-year, according to statistics released by Shanghai Customs on Wednesday.

Among them, green coffee beans imported from Africa totaled 583 million yuan, up 129.5 percent year-on-year.

At the 2025 Hongqiao International Coffee Culture Festival held in Shanghai recently, a batch of green coffee beans from Uganda made its debut. Weighing 42 metric tons, the beans were imported by Hainan Zhongyu International Cooperation Co., Ltd.

When coffee beans enter the logistics center, they can be directly matched with buyers without paying import duties or value-added tax, said Mo Haowen, deputy chief of the Logistics Monitoring Department at Shanghai's Xinzhuang Customs.

Hongqiao International Coffee Culture Festival has so far attracted over 100 coffee suppliers from 60 countries, generating a total trade volume of approximately 3 billion yuan.

(By Gong Weiwei)