Starbucks Corporation senior vice president and president for greater China Wang Jinlong said that the coffee chain will launch its first local coffee beverages in China, using coffee beans grown in Yunnan province, according to media reports.

In light of increasing food safety concerns in China, Wang said that Starbucks would establish a strict inspection and quality control system for local suppliers in Yunnan.

In 2007, Starbucks representatives visited with coffee farmers in southern Yunnan to help them meet company sourcing standards, with an eye on launching Yunnan coffee within China's domestic market and perhaps even internationally.

The move by Starbucks to localize some of its coffees in its China outlets is seen by analysts as a response to the current global financial crisis, trimming transportation costs and reducing tariffs paid on imported coffee beans.

Despite aggressive expansion in mainland China and sourcing Yunnan beans, Starbucks has yet to open retail outlets in Kunming or elsewhere in Yunnan.

Yunnan coffee has long been somewhat of a secret known primarily to residents of Yunnan and travelers that come passing through the province. It seems that in the next few years the secret may get out to the rest of the world. Starbucks Corp has indicated that it has plans to add Yunnan coffee to its roster of coffees in China and perhaps in other countries as well.

In a Reuters interview on Tuesday, Starbucks China President Wang Jinlong said that Starbucks representatives had been meeting with coffee farmers in southern Yunnan to assist them in meeting Starbucks sourcing standards. The Seattle-based company has also sent shipments of Yunnan beans to the US for testing, Wang said.

Some analysts speculate that Starbucks - the world's largest chain of coffee shops - is interested in sourcing Yunnan coffee to avoid steep coffee import tariffs in China, However, the company's Shanghai office told Reuters that sourcing coffee from Yunnan would be done to add new flavors to its outlets' menus, suggesting that it could be marketed as a product of Yunnan in China and abroad.

Starbucks' Wang said that the company's sales in China were growing faster than 25 percent annually - significantly higher than its global sales growth objective of 18 percent. Starbucks currently has 246 outlets in mainland China, but the figure should be in the thousands "in the near future", he added.