NAIROBI, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- African governments have been urged to exploit the immense opportunities in China to market their coffee products.

Barry Yuen, founder of the Coffee & Tea Academy of Hong Kong and chairman of the China & Speciality Coffee Association, said Africa should take advantage of the huge Chinese market, with a population of 1.3 billion people present.

Presenting a paper titled "Greater China Coffee Markets" to delegates at the seventh African Fine Coffee Conference & Exhibition at the Whitesands beach hotel, Mombasa Thursday, he said coffee marketers in Africa should seize the opportunity and market their products especially in Hong Kong, an international coffee trading center.

"But you should also ensure that you are conversant with the Chinese culture which will make business easy for you," he said at the conference organized by the Eastern Africa Fine Coffees Association.

Kenyan Agriculture Minister William Ruto said with more local consumption, the country, and Africa as a continent would ensure a ready market for their coffee.

Africa produces 10 percent of world coffee but only consumes three percent, the minister noted.

"The Kenya government will focus on coffee as a premium export product because Kenyan coffee is of a high quality and we will work with the private sector to reap the benefits of this premium product," said Ruto.

"It is encouraging to note that an estimated 80 percent of Kenya's coffee is considered to be specialty coffee. This has put Kenya on the world map as a leader in specialty coffee production. We are also seeking ways of encouraging East African countries to market their coffee product as a block," he added.

The conference brings together coffee roasters, marketers, buyers and farmers besides other stakeholders, from the continent and Asian countries. The coffee industry is an important foreign exchange earner in the region.

In particular, Kenya's coffee export earnings rose by an estimated 10 percent in the 2008/09 crop year on the back of stable prices in the world market. The country earned 10.7 billion shillings (about 143 millions U.S. dollars) during the period, up from 9.7 billion shillings during the previous crop year.

However, stakeholders in the sector believe there is room for growth of earnings if larger quantities of quality coffee are produced in the region and marketed more rapidly.

Since the government set on a campaign to liberalize the coffee sector, farmers have warmed up to the changes with a promise of higher returns, Coffee Board of Kenya managing director Louise Njeru said.

"Since the policy change in the sector we have seen confidence building up," she said, adding that in order to address quality -- an essential factor in the marketing of the product -- the board will set up a regional branding mechanisms in coffee growing areas.

Coffee farmers will take part in the conference on Feb. 13 in a key session that looks at the contribution of commercial farms and their role in value chain. Farmers will discuss the key to grow fine coffees in the session with a view to reaping more earnings from the world market though improvement of processes.

It is expected the country, currently producing slightly over 50,000 tonnes of coffee per year will reach production levels of over 100,000 metric tonnes. But to achieve this target, Njeru emphasized on the need to take an inclusive industry approach bringing together all the stakeholders.

Other areas of discussion during the three days' conference will include knock-on effects that the current world economic environment has had on the commodity and the trading windows in Africa.

The impact of climate change on coffee production and value addition of the commodity in Africa will also be discussed in the conference.

Judith Ganes Chase president and founder member of the J Ganes Consulting, a research company said that the opportunity for Africa to host the World Cup provides a window to market the continent's coffee.

World Cup viewers will see the continent show cased, the researcher said, with over 500,000 guest expected in the continent during the event that is starting in June this year.

"The event will bring a projected revenue of six billion U.S. dollars for South Africa and two billion dollars for tourism," Ganes said.