Copyright eco-business
Since 2018, São Paulo–based businesswoman Carla Guindani has been eyeing the Chinese market. That year, she was invited by ApexBrasil, a Brazilian government agency dedicated to promoting exports, to exhibit family farming products at the Shanghai International Food Exhibition. At the time, Guindani was head of a small farmers’ cooperative called Terra Livre, so she brought products made by social movements to display. The positive reception surprised Guindani and revealed the export potential of China. Once back in Brazil, she founded the company Raízes do Campo. It is dedicated to structuring small farmers’ production chains, and marketing products such as chocolate, honey, black pepper – and, above all, coffee – on the national and international markets. After delays imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the business gained momentum in December 2023, when it was authorised by the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) to export green coffee – the unroasted, raw beans of the coffee plant. The authorisation was renewed in July this year and is now valid for another five years. Raízes do Campo’s export authorisation is one of 183 recently granted for Brazilian coffee by the GACC. Since November 2023, it has issued 235 such permits, according to a survey of Chinese port data conducted by Dialogue Earth. This group comprises a diverse range of companies: from multinationals such as Cofco International, Louis Dreyfus and Mitsui & Co, to large national exporters such as Unicafé and Tristão Trading, as well as 14 small producer cooperatives. A portion of the income from each bag of coffee must be reinvested in improving productivity, preserving the environment and investing in social projects in the community. Rodrigo Araújo, commercial coordinator, Coopfam According to Guindani, the trend has been for large producers to take the lead in meeting this Chinese demand. Much of the market, she says, seeks high volumes at low prices, with little attention currently given to socio-environmental factors relating to the product. But she sees room for smaller businesses like hers. Raízes do Campo is betting on specialty and certified coffees, such as organic and agroecological coffees. The company works with about 2,000 cooperative families in different regions of Brazil, exporting 120 tonnes of Arabica coffee annually to Chinese coffee shops interested in specialty beans. “It’s a small volume and high added value for very specialised coffee shops,” Guindani tells Dialogue Earth. Brazilian coffee winning over China The GACC’s new approvals come at a time when Brazil and China are deepening trade relations. Chinese consumers are exhibiting a growing appetite for coffee, while the United States, still the largest market, is imposing tariff barriers on the bean. In the past five years, Brazilian coffee exports to China have more than quintupled: from less than 10,000 tonnes in 2020 to more than 55,000 in 2024, with a peak of 79,000 in 2023, according to Dialogue Earth’s analysis of foreign trade data issued by the Brazilian government. For now, China ranks 12th among the main markets – far behind leaders such as the United States and Germany, which each imported more than 440,000 tonnes last year. However, the current trade war initiated by the US may change this scenario, as it has imposed a 50 per cent tariff on Brazilian products, including coffee. Until 2024, the country had led coffee imports for seven of the 10 preceding years. In August this year, however, when the measure came into force, purchases fell to their lowest level in a decade for that month, according to foreign trade data.
