53
T
he Portuguese are up there with and, with us, international brands will be
the world’s great coffee offician- able to enter the Chinese market without
dos and now they have taken an paying customs duties. As a Macanese
inspired leap into a growing businsess in company we enjoy Macau’s CEPA agree-
traditionally tea-loving greater China. ment with mainland China, so we have
They like to call it Asia’s most mod- exemption from customs duties on ex-
ern coffee factory and with rosting and ports”.
grinding equipment from Germany, pack-
ing machines from Italy, a mainly Chi- China smells the coffee
nese workforce and Portuguese owners,
Sociedade Industrial de Macau represents Basto is confident about the main-
exactly what Macau can offer entrepre- land market and says: “According to sta-
neurs: Links to Europe and Portuguese- tistics, China consumes between 11 to 14
speaking countries in a Chinese territory. tons of coffee per year and consumption
With a name that means ‘yes’ in Portu- is increasing by 100 percent every year.
guese, SIM makes the bold - some might For now, the Chinese prefer instant cof-
say over-blown - promises to make the fee, but I think, in time, they will more
Chinese give up tea. and more want ground or whole coffee”.
“We came here in 2005 to do a sur- Basto says Europeans prefer a softer,
vey of the market and understand what less dark, less dense coffee, but because
kind of coffee is drunk in China and what the Chinese attach great importance to
people’s behavior was towards coffee, colour, the darker the coffee, the better.
where it was drunk and when,’’ explains They prefer a more robust coffee, strong-
João Basto, the company’s chief execu- er, more burned. On the other hand, they
tive officer. are not the biggest fans of expressos, pre-
“This drink is very much linked to ferring products related to coffee, like
the western style of living and that is ap- cappuccino.
pealing to the urban youth who are in- “You have to take all of this into
creasingly enjoying coffee,’’ says Basto. account when trying to sell coffee in
For the SIM owners—a Portuguese a country that drinks tea,’’ says Basto.
group who prefer to remain anonymous “I have no doubt the Chinese market
—Macau was interesting because it pro- is opening up to coffee, as it is open-
vides support from other companies, ing up to western way of life. Drink-
who understand both the European ing coffee, moreover imported cof-
mentality and the Chinese reality, par- fee, is starting to be a status symbol.’’
ticularly in the areas of construction and
law. Hill of beans
“On the other hand, there was re-
ceptivity to a company with Portuguese At present SIM has the technical ca-
capital”. Three years after their initial ex- pacity to produce three tons of coffee a
ploratory foray into Macau, and with the year but by the end of their first year they
industrial license just approved in mid plan to produce much more.
November, João Basto admits that the fo- “Within five years, after equipment
cus is not so much on the coffee, but the upgrades, we want to reach nine tons per
services the factory can provide. year,’’ says Basto, adding that the initial
investment was about US$15 million.
Make your own brand “If all goes as planned and we
buy more burners and grinding equip-
SIM is able to create a private coffee ment, the investment will reach US$25
label for a hotel or a restaurant, or even million. We hope to reach a turnover
roast, grind and pack beans from around of HK$70 million in the first year,’’
the world. reveals the chief executive officer.
But, why you ask, would a company And the odds seem to be with them: “We
want to use SIM’s equipment? Simple, are already in negotiations with coffee
the Closer Economic Partnership Ar- companies from Hong Kong, Macau and
rangement, better known as CEPA which Japan. We have also started talks with
allows the more free movement of goods American and Brazilian companies.
and services between Macau and main- They are interested in roasting, grinding
land China which was inked in 2004. or packing their coffee in our factory, and
“We have the latest coffee technology if they want to export to mainland China,
december 2008
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