East Timor “no longer has enough coffee” for demand – Businessman

East Timor “no longer has enough coffee” for the growing demand, particularly in mainland China, said a businessman from Macau, who has been importing coffee beans from the country since the restoration of independence 20 years ago.

“I have imported seven to eight containers of coffee a year,” Eduardo Ambrósio told Lusa. Part of the beans are sold to factories in Macau, where they are roasted and processed and the coffee packaged, before being exported to China, without paying customs duties.

But most of the grain that Ambrósio imports from Timor-Leste goes directly to mainland China, where sales “have grown a lot, at an average of 20 per cent or more a year”, said the businessman.

The demand for coffee in China has increased, as has the sophistication of consumers. “Before they only drank instant coffee, now they are starting to learn more. There are coffee appreciation courses, barista competitions”, underlined the Macanese.

Since attending the 2020 China International Import Exhibition, Timor-Leste has exported coffee worth US$5 million to mainland China.

Ambrósio argued that Timor-Leste “still has a lot of land” for new coffee plantations, which could be financed by the China-Portuguese-Speaking Countries Cooperation and Development Fund.

The cooperation fund, worth nearly one billion euros, was created almost 10 years ago by the China Development Bank and the Macau Industrial and Commercial Development Fund.

According to the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Forum Macao), the fund supported a total investment of more than US$4 billion from Chinese companies in Portuguese-speaking countries.

“The fund does not use anything”, lamented Eduardo Ambrósio. Interested companies have to guarantee a minimum investment of US$5 million and the fund only finances 20 per cent, he explained.

“They should go down to US$1 million. So we could present many projects for Portuguese-speaking countries, not just for Timor”, defended the businessman.

Ambrósio is also the president of the International Trade Association for Lusophone Markets, which will mark, together with the Macau-Timor Friendship Association, the 20th anniversary of the restoration of East Timor’s independence.

“We are going to have a get-together with around 40 people, most of whom are Timorese living in Macau. Now there are very few, before there were more”, lamented Ambrósio.

The Macanese recalled that, since Macau closed its borders to foreigners in March 2020, local universities do not receive the usual contingent of students from Timor-Leste.

On April 14, the Government announced a pilot program to lift border restrictions on some foreigners, including university students.