Brazil’s biggest coffee cooperative, Cooxupé, said that its pioneer coffee shop in China covered costs in the first year of operation and that it saw scope for expansion. The shop, located in a shopping center in the former Chinese imperial capital of Xi’an, was opened in partnership with China’s FAB Export and Import Group and Belgium’s CPE Group. “China has a history of some 7,000 years but only started drinking coffee a few years ago.”
He said that Cooxupe will move its coffee shop to the ground floor of the same shopping center in Xi’an to be closer to consumers and have Starbucks Corp. as one of its neighbours.
Cooxupé was founded in 1932 by a group of 24 farmers to act as a credit supplier to coffee growing in the South of Minas amidst a shattering world financial crisis. In 1957, Cooxupé started its activities in the production, grading and commercialization of coffee. In spite of the problems facing the sector during that period, the strength of the association and the efforts put into the achievement of its objectives were enough to overcome difficulties, bringing the Cooperative to a strong position in the national coffee business.
Today, Cooxupé is the largest private coffee cooperative in the world. Located in the areas responsible for the production of Brazil’s finest Arabicas, namely the South of Minas, Mogiana and Cerrado, Cooxupé receives and commercializes the production of its 9.000 associates, 80% of them small farmers, the equivalent of 3,0 million bags of coffee. Direct shipments to foreign markets totals an average of 1,0 million per year, placing Cooxupé as the largest Arabica coffee exporter in Brazil. The remaining 2,0 million bags are sold to the most discerning exporters in Brazil and to the Brazilian internal market.
For more information about this company, visit their Website.
Posted by beanybabe at 11:46 AM PST
