ABOUT US
Soo Hup Seng was founded on April 1st 1970 by four partners. Hence the name Soo Hup Seng, which means “four people come together to make it successful” in the local dialect. The company was incorporated in 1977 at Penang, an island situated in the northern part of Malaysia. Over the course of more than 50 years in business, the company has established a loyal customer base that covers all over Malaysia, while long term suppliers included countries from every region in the world, Asia, Europe, South America, Africa and etc. The company’s name has been kept for more than half a century with the intention to remind its people that in keeping with tradition, the establishment of responsibility is essential to the integrity and permanence of the brand “Soo Hup Seng”. The company has always strived for a mutually beneficial business relationship with its trading partners for the long term. The long history speaks for itself.
Soo Hup Seng is a coffee and spice trading company with an office in Penang. In the early 1970s, we started to venture into coffee trading by importing robusta coffee beans from Indonesia. Our earlier customer base were the local “kopi-o” roasters in Malaysia. We are proud to have some of our customers for more than 40 years and are now in the hands of their 3rd generation. Long term relationship is built on trust, understanding and truthfulness.
During the early 2010s, we started to import high quality Arabica coffee beans into the local market. There was a growing trend where Coffee drinkers are more appreciative of the so-called “third wave” specialty coffee cultivated from renowned coffee farms all over the world. With our extensive networks of customers and suppliers, we are able to source premium quality coffee beans at significantly competitive prices. We are also keeping sufficient inventory in our cold room facility locally to maintain the freshness of our coffee beans. All in all, we at Soo Hup Seng are continuously improving ourselves to be your most trusted partner. We are proud to be there to participate in your growth story, during the good and bad times, like what we have been doing over the past half centuries.
Malaysia has a stringent requirement in importing agricultural products. Coffee and spices both fell into this category. These imports are monitored and controlled by the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA) http://www.fama.gov.my/utama and the Malaysian Quarantine and Inspection Services (MAQIS) http://www.maqis.gov.my/tumbuhan-prosedur-import ; http://www.maqis.gov.my/soalan-lazim under the Ministry of Agriculture in Malaysia.
There were stringent requirements by these departments whereby various permits, certificates and licenses have to be applied before raw coffee beans and spices can be brought into the country and distributed, legally. The GPL (Grading, Packaging and Labelling) Regulations have to be strictly adhered to before the imported goods can be cleared from Custom. The application process can sometimes be tedious to some, and this is where Soo Hup Seng can be of service. We have been doing these for decades, hence most of our customers prefer to let us handle this part of the process while they concentrate on running and growing their businesses. It’s a win-win to all.
Our humble beginning with Arabica Coffee
Soo Hup Seng started bringing arabica coffee beans into Malaysia in the early 2010s. During that time, the local café scene was dominated by international franchise brands, namely, Starbucks, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (CBTL), Gloria Jeans, etc., which started to set foot in Malaysia in the late 20th Century. That was a time where our local coffee drinkers learned to appreciate the western world coffee, brewed mainly by arabica coffee bean-like Americano, Espresso, Latte, cappuccino, etc., which is different from the “robusta based” kopi-o which we have grown up with.
Students returning from their overseas studies are also more exposed to the arabica coffee and learned to appreciate this coffee. In the early 2010s, only a handful of locally owned cafes offered this arabica based coffee, let alone locally roasted. But over the following years, these cafes have mushroomed in our local scene and they are easily spotted in malls, major street corners, and had revolutionized the coffee culture in Malaysia. Coffee brewing has become an art, Baristas have become a sought-after profession, and premium arabica coffee from a distant world has become an appreciative drink. We at Soo Hup Seng has witnessed the transition and is pleased to have played a role in contributing to this revolutionary trend.
Since the early 2010s, we noticed a growing demand for premium quality arabica coffee beans. Thanks to the long and lasting business relationship we have with one of the most reputable coffee bean traders in Singapore, Young-in Traders Pte Ltd. (Young-in), we have been able to source the most exclusive beans from around the world. Under the leadership of Mr. Henry Yeo, Young-in has established a significant presence and exposure in the international coffee market. Under the support and guidance of Young-in, Soo Hup Seng has grown to become one of the major arabica coffee bean suppliers in Malaysia.
With our commitment to continuously improve ourselves to provide a better quality products to customers, we have set up a cold room facility in Penang. Besides maintaining the freshness of beans, we are also able to keep a wider product range in our local warehouse to always ready to meet urgent customer demand. This is a major step for us to get rid of the long delivery lead time problem that most customers have been facing. Also, we can meet the demand for smaller order quantities, in turn enabling customers to have better flexibility in allocating their resources. All in all, if you are a coffee roaster, or planning to become one, please feel free to talk to us. We are here to grow with you.