The 3rd World Coffee Conference kicked off in Guatemala City on Friday to discuss sustainable coffee production, the second commercialized raw material in the world after petroleum.
The annual conference, which attracted more than 1,200 delegates from 77 countries, will also discuss the negative impacts of climate change on coffee production and production increase due to the rise of consumption demands.
Nestor Osorio, executive director of the International Organization of Coffee (ICO), said world coffee consumption in 2010 would be 123 million sacks of 60 kg, 25 million sacks more than last year. There will be a great shortage of coffee production next year, he said.
Osorio said the conference will produce recommendations to "guarantee a prosperous future of coffee industry."
The ICO, established in the 1960s, was sponsored by the Common Fund of Basic Products of the United Nations. The first World Coffee Conference was held in London in May 2001, and the second in Salvador in September 2005.