Nicaragua sees coffee opportunities in China

MATAGALPA, Nicaragua — In the fertile mountains of Nicaragua, thousands of small-scale producers grow and process top-quality artisanal coffee, hoping to potentially break into the Chinese market.

"China is a huge gateway, a good sales opportunity," said Eduardo Escobar, executive secretary of Nicaragua's National Commission for the Transformation and Development of Coffee Farming.

Nicaraguan coffee growers produce 3.7 million quintals of coffee a year, with 90 percent of it being exported. They want to further diversify their sales abroad, something they are looking forward to achieving in July 2023 at the Cup of Excellence, an annual auction that Chinese buyers are invited to attend.

"We are very interested in having them come because currently they are the ones who best value the product," Escobar said. "Producers are eager to export to China."

Although both parties have taken the first steps toward the exchange, producers still have to complete a rigorous certification process and meet the phytosanitary requirements, in addition to working on the product's "designation of origin" label.

Coffee beans grow best at elevations of 600 to 1,800 meters above sea level, which is why the mountains of Nicaragua's Matagalpa department, located about 150 kilometers northeast of the capital Managua, are prime coffee-growing terrain.

Together with the neighboring Jinotega department, Matagalpa is home to some 50 coffee processing operations. The headquarters of the two largest coffee producers are also based in Matagalpa.

The Soppexcca union currently has some 500 producers that export 60 containers of high-quality coffee to different countries each year. It annually processes some 150,000 quintals of Oro coffee, which is easily distinguished by its flavor.

"The quality and attributes are quite marked in Nicaraguan coffee, although we have different types of coffee for different markets," Marvin Raul Talavera, Soppexcca's quality manager, said.

Another major regional producer is Eddy Kuhl, owner of the successful Selva Negra farm.

"We have more than 200 years of experience, and that is why Nicaragua has mastered the technique of coffee (production) and export in clean containers," Kuhl said.

Xinhua