Coffee has enjoyed the greatest demand to date, with sales in the Booth's Gift Shop being encouraged by a programme of free sampling to the tune of 2,000 cups of coffee per week on average. Paul Yao, a Chinese businessman, who has invested and settled in Jamaica, has secured contracts with three Chinese distributors at the Expo for his company J&C Coffee Trading. Sauces have been another hot sale item for visitors to the Booth.

In January of this year, JAMPRO, the lead agency coordinating Jamaica's participation in the Expo, mobilized members of the local export community around the business opportunities that exist in the Chinese market. JAMPRO-led research determined that coffee, spices, condiments, rums, beers, art and crafts, apparel and coffee were likely to do well in China.

World Expo 2010 Shanghai, which started on May 1 and will end six months later on October 31, has 192 participating countries and has already attracted over 30 million visitors by July 21st after 82 days opening to the public.

A key feature in the booth is the "Great Wall of Jamaica", which is covered with floor-to-ceiling photographs that portray the natural beauty of Jamaica and its people. Images of reggae legend Bob Marley and Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt enjoy pride of place in the booth, which also features a Trade and Investment area replete with collateral material, as well as a meeting room and culture section. The latter area contains an art gallery and music room dubbed "From Mento to Dancehall".

Jamaica's participation in expo is a cross-ministerial effort involving the Ministries of Industry, Investment and Commerce; Youth, Culture and Sports; Tourism; and Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, among others. As its overarching objective, Jamaica will seek to use the Expo to effectively position itself as the hub of the region for culture, trade and investment.