Italian coffee group steams ahead in China

Italian fine-coffee producer illycaffe SpA has begun accelerating its business in China as it expects the market to sharply boom over the next few years, the company's chief executive said.

"The Chinese coffee market is expanding with the fastest growth in recent years. I believe coffee consumption in China will easily double over the next five years," said Andrea Illy, president and CEO of the Italian company.

"We hope the Asia market will represent 15 to 20 percent of our global sales in seven years," Illy said. "And China will become one of the world's top five coffee-consuming countries in one generation."