After nearly 30 years of weeding out the weak, Taiwan’s coffee market remains robust, importing more than 50,000 tonnes of coffee annually two years in a row — about five times the amount imported 25 years ago.
When Starbucks, the leading company in the coffee industry globally, was first introduced to Taiwan in 1998, the nation’s annual coffee imports — including raw coffee beans, roasted coffee, coffee and coffee products — totaled about 8,766 tonnes, import and export data showed.
In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began, Taiwan’s annual coffee imports were more than 50,000 tonnes.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan High Speed Rail
However, imports were affected by an indoor dining ban imposed in 2021 and dropped to below 50,000 tonnes that year, but increased to more than 50,000 tonnes again in 2022.
The value of coffee imports increased from about US$44.33 million in 1998 to about US$347 million last year, the data showed.
As about 12g of coffee powder is used to brew a cup of coffee, people in Taiwan drank about 730 million cups of coffee in 1998, which translates to about 32 cups per person per year. That number grew to 4.24 billion cups of coffee last year, or about 184 cups per person per year.
Globally, each person drinks an average of 126 cups of coffee per year, but the average number of cups a person in Taiwan drinks is 58 cups more than that, International Coffee Organization statistics showed.
Compared with countries that have a “coffee addiction” — meaning each person drinks more than 400 cups of coffee per year on average — such as Japan, South Korea, the US and some EU countries, Taiwan’s coffee market still has room to grow.
The growing number of coffee shops in Taiwan in the past decade also gives a clue as to how much Taiwanese like to open coffee shops.
The number of beverage shops in Taiwan has grown significantly in the past decade, but coffee shops grew at a much faster rate than others, increasing from 1,592 shops in 2011 to 4,165 shops in 2022 — a growth rate of 1.6, Ministry of Finance business registration data showed.
Taipei has the highest density of coffee shops in the nation, with an average of 3.4 coffee shops per square kilometer, followed by Tainan with an average of two coffee shops per square kilometer and Taichung with 1.7.
In 2009, the main coffee chains in Taiwan were 85°C Bakery Cafe, with 327 shops, Starbucks with 223 shops, E-Coffee with 158, Dante Coffee with 127, Ikari Coffee with 64, Mr Brown Coffee with 34, Is Coffee with 32, Barista Coffee with 32, Zhen Quo Cafe with 30 shops, and Crown and Fancy Coffeehouse with 18 shops, Taiwan Chain Stores and Franchise Association data showed.
By the end of last year, there were 564 Starbucks branches, followed by 394 85°C Bakery Cafe branches and 154 Cama Cafe branches.
As for franchises, there were only 42 E-Coffee shops, 16 Barista Coffee shops, and fewer than 20 shops each for Ikari Coffee, Dante Coffee and Mr Brown Coffee remaining, while all Is Coffee, Zhen Quo Cafe and Crown and Fancy Coffeehouse stores were closed as of the end of last year.
The first local coffee chain in Taiwan — Dante Coffee — was sold to dumpling chain Bafang Yunji International Co in 2020, and there were 67 branches at the time, but hit by the pandemic, the coffee chain lost about NT$43 million (US$1.33 million) each year, so many shops closed down and there are only 19 left.
Dante Coffee plans to introduce a new business model later this year, Bafang Yunji said.
Ho Ping-lin (何炳霖), chairman of Cama Cafe, said the entry threshold into the coffee business is relatively low, as fast-food chains, bakeries and tea shops also sell coffee, and coffee can even be bought at gas stations, so there is always intense competition.
The cost of staff, remodeling and coffee beans has been increasing every year, so opening a small shop requires at least NT$2.5 million, while a bigger shop would need NT$5 million, he said.
“Selling coffee is not very profitable,” Ho said.
Smaller coffee shops or those without distinctive features might easily be eliminated by the competition, he added.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to