2026 International (Kunshan) Specialty Coffee Expo Brings Together 230+ Brands from 21 Countries

At a Glance (China Coffee Network): Kunshan, September 25 (China News Service / reporter Zhong Sheng) — On September 24, more than 230 quality coffee-industry brands from 21 countries gathered at the 2026 Internatio…

Kunshan, September 25 (China News Service / reporter Zhong Sheng) — On September 24, more than 230 quality coffee-industry brands from 21 countries gathered at the 2026 International (Kunshan) Specialty Coffee Expo held in Kunshan, Jiangsu. Supporting professional competitions, industry exchange and supply-demand matchmaking, trendy lifestyle experiences and hands-on fun were presented together, creating a vivid and lively coffee carnival.

The expo adopted a two-hall layout linking a professional industry-chain exhibition with a consumer-facing show, covering every link “from bean to cup.” It aims to connect the industry side with the consumer side and organically integrate professional trade functions with popular science and experience for the public.

According to the 2026 China Urban Coffee Development Report, China’s coffee industry reached 354.9 billion yuan in scale in 2025, up 13.3 percent year on year. In per-capita terms, annual coffee consumption rose from 16.74 cups in 2023 to 28.57 cups in 2025. In the coffee exhibition area, delegations from major producing countries such as Colombia and Ethiopia set up booths and pitched hard for China’s incremental market, while domestic producing regions including Yunnan and Hainan joined forces to push “Chinese specialty beans” onto the global stage.

“In recent years, thanks to China’s zero-tariff policy and measures such as the ‘green channel’ for agricultural exports to China, Uganda’s coffee bean exports to China have grown rapidly,” said Su Lang, agricultural trade officer at the China representative office of Uganda’s Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries. “Chinese consumers now care more and more about coffee quality and flavor. From freshly ground coffee to coffee concentrate, from fruit-infused coffee to tea-infused coffee, creative coffee keeps emerging. Ugandan specialty beans offer rich varieties, diverse processing methods and bold flavors that can feed these new creative ideas in Chinese coffee consumption, so the room for cooperation is substantial.”

Wu Mikang, an export agent for Colombian coffee beans, came to the expo mainly to promote limited-edition local specialty beans such as Geisha and Bourbon Sidra. He is optimistic about the young demographic in China’s coffee market and has therefore actively learned to promote on new-media platforms, telling the stories of coffee origins and showcasing beautiful landscapes to attract customers and deepen interaction with Chinese consumers.

Kunshan is not a coffee-producing region, yet two out of every three cups of coffee in China use beans roasted in Kunshan. More than 40 leading international coffee companies, including Starbucks, Luckin Coffee and Japan’s Mitsui & Co., have settled in Kunshan, establishing stable trade channels with 33 major coffee-producing countries and regions worldwide. This year Kunshan’s coffee roasting capacity rose to 200,000 tonnes, alongside 150,000 tonnes of warehousing capacity. Here, green bean trading, platform transactions, R&D roasting and brand sales are all connected end to end, and the whole process from green bean to finished coffee can be completed within a half-hour drive.

As the leading zone of Kunshan’s coffee industry, the Kunshan Development Zone has in recent years leveraged its industrial advantages and relied on the country’s first Asia-Pacific green coffee bean distribution center to handle roughly 60 percent of the nation’s green bean imports and roasting capacity. The zone has also joined with universities to build the Kunshan Coffee Industry College, cultivating specialized talent and injecting a steady stream of skilled people and innovative energy into the high-quality, sustainable development of Kunshan’s coffee industry.

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