Chinese delegation at NAEB
Chinese Ambassador to Rwanda Henry Rao Hongwei has pledged to attract more investors in coffee business to Rwanda.
This follows the Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) Africa hub that was signed between Rwanda and Alibaba Group – China’s biggest e-commerce company last month.
The deal gave Rwanda’s premium coffee, tea and handcrafts access all online Chinese and global markets.
On Saturday, November 24, 2018, a delegation of 25 staff members from Chinese Embassy in Rwanda led by Hongwei visited Rwandan CoffeeFarmers Company (RFCC) with the aim of viewing procession of roasted coffee.
Among the areas, delegates visited coffee roasting plant factory owned by RFCC based at National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB) headquarters in Kigali city.
The visit aimed at watching an overview of Rwandan Coffee Industry and its development plan on future Chinese Market, the source of roasted coffee exported to China through Alibaba and getting to know coffee exporters expectations.
“As Ambassador to Rwanda, I will do my best to provide more opportunities to Chinese investors to come to Rwanda and enjoy coffee and tea,” Hongwei said.
“Rwanda coffee is becoming famous on the Chinese market, I believe in near future there will be big market for coffee produced in Rwanda,” Hongwei told KT Press.
Sandrine Urujeni, Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at NAEB told KT Press that exportation of roasted coffee to China is still in the Trial phase, but developing gradually.
Urujeni told KT Press that about 200 kilograms of roasted coffee will be exported to China next week compared to 750 kilograms of similar coffee exported last week.
“We are in trial phases of exporting roasted coffee to China, we hope the ambassador will help in supporting and expanding of roasted coffee market in China,” Urujeni said.
Currently, a kilogram of roasted coffee stands at $8 minimum, on international market, however some(roasted coffee) goes up to $9 and $10 depending on quality and price fluctuations, according to Urujeni.
