Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) Opening Coffee Roastery In China, Moving Outside US For First Time

Starbucks, the world’s biggest coffee company, said Thursday it would open in 2017 a coffee roastery in Shanghai, its first outside the U.S.

The company currently operates only one such roastery in Seattle, which it opened in 2014. It has signed leases for another in New York.

Starbucks has been investing heavily in China, the company’s largest market outside the U.S., despite signs of slowing growth.

Starbucks said in April that business in China remained strong even as the country’s economy cools.

This week, J.M. Smucker, the biggest coffee roaster in the U.S., said it would cut prices of its American packaged coffee brands, including Folgers and Dunkin’ Donuts, in response to sustained declines in coffee bean prices.

“For the last several quarters, lower green coffee costs were reflected in promotional pricing for the majority of our packaged coffee products, and we do not anticipate those prices changing significantly,” said Steve Oakland, who heads up Smucker’s U.S. food and beverage business.

At an average of 6 percent per item, the price cuts exclude the company’s K-Cup pods.

Data from Reuters were used to report this story.