Puer, China - Recent Yunnan, China's largest coffee-producing region, is seeing a surge in coffee bean prices, driven by global supply shortages. Coffee farmers in the leading coffee growing city of Pu'er are expecting an increasing earning as prices nearly doubled compared to last year. "This year, we started selling coffee beans at 5.8 yuan (about 80 U.S. cents) per kilogram, and the price has kept rising. Now, it's reached 10.59 yuan per kilogram, almost doubling. Last year, my income from coffee bean sales was around 160,000 to 170,000 yuan. I believe this year's sales can reach 300,000 yuan," said local coffee grower Li Xianhua. The price surge, fueled by a 118.57 percent increase in global coffee futures over the past year, has brought significant profits to local farmers. However, it has also compelled coffee processing companies to adjust their purchasing and selling strategies. "Previously, we would start purchasing coffee beans in December, but we moved the purchasing time up by a month in this harvest season. We're worried that prices might drop at some point, so our strategy this year is to stock only about twice our usual amount based on orders," said Shi Bin, owner of a local coffee processing factory. In recent years, Pu'er has encouraged farmers to focus on producing high-quality coffee by adopting practices like selective harvesting and cherry grading. These efforts have improved the overall quality of Yunnan coffee beans, aligning with growing consumer demand for premium coffee. With coffee cultivation covering approximately 680,000 mu (about 45,333 hectares) in Pu'er, the city accounts for over 50 percent of China's total coffee production. "We expect Pu'er's green coffee bean output to be around 58,000 tons this year, roughly the same as last year. Based on current market prices, the total output value will exceed 10 billion yuan, making this the most profitable year for coffee growers since we started cultivating coffee," said Zhang Xiong, deputy director of the Pu'er Tea and Coffee Industry Development Center. The video shows: 1. Aerial shot of coffee plantation in mountains 2. Various of coffee cherries, workers picking coffee cherries 3. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Li Xianhua, coffee grower, Simao District, Pu'er City (partially overlaid with shot 4): "This year, we started selling coffee beans at 5.8 yuan (about 80 U.S. cents) per kilogram, and the price has kept rising. Now, it's reached 10.59 yuan per kilogram, almost doubling. Last year, my income from coffee bean sales was around 160,000 to 170,000 yuan. I believe this year's sales can reach 300,000 yuan." ++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++ 4. Various of workers picking coffee cherries ++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++ 5. Hulling machine 6. Various of machine hulling dried coffee cherries 7. Various of coffee processing workers checking green coffee beans hulled by machine 8. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Shi Bin, owner, local coffee processing factory (partially overlaid with shot 9): "Previously, we would start purchasing coffee beans in December, but we moved the purchasing time up by a month in this harvest season. We're worried that prices might drop at some point, so our strategy this year is to stock only about twice our usual amount based on orders." ++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++ 9. Various of coffee processing workers checking green coffee beans hulled by machine ++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++ 10. Various of machine hulling dried coffee cherries 11. Worker using forklift to move coffee beans 12. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Zhang Xiong, Deputy Director, Pu'er Tea and Coffee Industry Development Center (partially overlaid with shot 13): "We expect Pu'er's green coffee bean output to be around 58,000 tons this year, roughly the same as last year. Based on current market prices, the total output value will exceed 10 billion yuan, making this the most profitable year for coffee growers since we started cultivating coffee." ++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++ 13. Various of workers picking coffee cherries ++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++ 14. Various of workers picking coffee cherries