Time is ripe to tap into growing Chinese coffee market
March 19 2010
Anyone with a pulse can tell you that our country is slowly being overrun by Chinese entrepreneurs and corporations.
From road construction to hair pins and Chinese herbs to restaurants, there is no corner that you turn without seeing something that has originated from The Dragon.
Our preference for cheap, medium quality goods has resulted in our market being flooded with cheap products and imitations from the fourth largest country in the world.
It is also around this time of the year that all roads lead to the Canton Fair, one of the largest trade fairs in the world.
At this event, Kenyan entrepreneurs buy various items at bargain prices to ship back merchandise for the Kenya market.
A visit to this fair will reveal the ingenuity of Chinese manufacturers.
There is nothing under the sun that they do not seem to know how to make.
A motorcycle can go for as low as Sh25,000 and imitation dual sim iPhones are a paltry Sh9,500.
At the home front, some Kenyans are slowly acquiring the taste of Chinese food.
Their restaurants are mushrooming and are an indication of a growing preference for Chinese culinary skills.
Kenyans who love such food indicate the taste is out of this world.
Essentially, it is, bearing in mind that most of the servings are topped heavily with MSG (monosodium glutamate), a popular food additive that acts as a flavour enhancer.
Any well informed doctor will tell MSG lovers that the additive damages the liver.
It is basically another way of taking massive quantities of sodium without tasting the saltiness of it.
So, as our love for everything Chinese continues to grow, we seemed to have forgotten that China is one of the biggest markets in the world with a population of over 1.3 billion.
We have a great opportunity to tap into this market by looking at where our superiority in goods and services delivery lies.
For starters, our coffee which is arguably the best in the world, is predominantly exported to markets in North America and Europe.
However, when we look at behavioural changes in the Chinese market, there is a growing preference for a western type of lifestyle characterised a growing café culture.
Just like the Chinese are opening restaurants everywhere in Kenya, Kenyan entrepreneurs need to consider opening Kenya coffee cafes in large cities in China.
With the recent launch of the logo for the Kenya coffee brand, this provides a great opportunity to sell branded coffee to Chinese who are seeking and consuming what they consider the finer things in life.
With the less than favourable reputation, the Chinese have for their ability to make imitations, we need to be careful that some opportunistic Chinese entrepreneur does not see ahead of the curve and open a Kenya coffee franchise in China.
Chances that they will sell Kenya pure AA grade coffee are doubtful as they will most likely sell a blend to improve profit margins. This will in turn deny the discerning Chinese coffee drinker the “real thing”.
The reality of the matter is that per capita consumption of coffee in China is still relatively low and our strategists, investors and entrepreneurs should penetrate this market.
As a start, our bureaucrats in charge of marketing the Kenya Brand abroad should consider having some dominant presence at the Canton fair to tap into the thousands of Chinese and international delegates who visit the event every year.
Kahawa cafes
Secondly, coffee entrepreneurs and restaurateurs should scout the Chinese market for the impending entry of “Kahawa Cafes” in China and give chains such as Starbucks a run for their money.
Presumably, it is with these kinds of initiatives that our balance of trade position with China will improve and provide opportunity to send expatriates to the Middle Kingdom like the Chinese do with road construction labour in Kenya.
