Coffee sales were expected to exceed NT$40 billion (US$1.22 billion) in Taiwan for a second consecutive year in 2024, reflecting the growing thirst for coffee in Taiwan and the lifestyle it represents.
Taiwan’s coffee shops, coffee retailers, and wholesalers generated a combined NT$37.67 billion in sales in the first 11 months of 2024, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) reported Friday, and it expected sales to exceed NT$40 billion for a second straight year once the December figures were in.
It was unclear, however, if 2024 sales will reach the record NT$42.99 billion in sales set in 2023, but breaching the NT$40 billion mark again only confirmed the upward trend in Taiwan’s love for coffee since 2018.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan High Speed Rail
Between 2018 and November 2024, the number of coffee shops ballooned by 42.5 percent, or 6 percent a year on average, to 4,824 in Taiwan, according to data in a report released by the MOF on Friday.
And that does not take into account the thousands of convenience stores, supermarkets, and gas stations that are also serving fresh coffee to feed burgeoning local demand, the ministry said.
The growth in outlets offering coffee helped drive the 36 percent growth in annual coffee sales from NT$31.54 billion in 2018 to NT$42.97 billion in 2023.
Coffee shops alone have accounted for over half of the sales since 2018, hitting NT$24.59 billion in 2023 and NT $21.83 billion between January and November in 2024, MOF data showed.
Most of Taiwan’s coffee is imported, largely in the form of coffee beans, with a record high 52,600 metric tons of coffee beans and products imported by Taiwan in 2024.
In recent years, raw beans have accounted for 71 percent of imports in recent years, followed by other coffee products at 16.3 percent and roasted coffee at 12.6 percent, the ministry reported.
Taiwan has produced around 950 metric tons of coffee beans a year in recent years, following a record high of 1,109 metric tons in 2018, thanks to growing demand for quality coffee and the rapid expansion of gourmet coffee outlets, the ministry reported.
Pingtung, Nantou, Taitung, and Chiayi counties have been the main production areas in Taiwan, according to the report.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
RSS