Nestle to launch new coffee product in China

Global food giant Nestle will launch a new coffee product named for Pu'er, a traditional tea-producing region in southwest China looking to explore coffee cultivation, company sources said. The development of the new coffee product based on locally-produced beans will deepen cooperation between Nestle and the country's largest coffee plantation base in Yunnan Province, said Dong Yuguo, vice president of Nestle China. Dong said his company has witnessed and promoted the development of the coffee industry in Pu'er and hopes more people will join efforts to build up the coffee culture in the region. Nestle kicked off its coffee projects in Pu'er and Jinghong, another city in Yunnan, in 1988 and has established technical assistance centers in the region. In 2012, the Switzerland-based company purchased over 10,000 tonnes of coffee beans from Pu'er, about one-third of the region's total annual output of 36,500 tonnes. Pu'er is the largest coffee plantation base in Yunnan, where coffee bean output accounts for about 98 percent of national total.