World Coffee Producers Forum releases final declaration

The second World Coffee Producers Forum (WCPF) has concluded on 11 July in Campinas, Brazil with more than 1500 visitors from over 30 countries in attendance. The WCPF declared that while its first edition raised worldwide awareness to the need for economic sustainability in global coffee supply, there has not been effective engagement from the other sectors in the value chain to improve coffee producers’ remuneration. Read more:
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• FNC calls for US$2 per pound base price for coffee Research by professor Jeffery Sachs from Columbia University emphasised the need for all members of the value chain to contribute to a solution. He says co-responsibility of all public and private agents in the coffee trade is required to guarantee economic, environmental, and social sustainability. Roberto Vélez Vallejo, CEO of the Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia, said at the forum that the global supply chain needs to embrace economic sustainability to the same extent as social and environmental. “It does not seem ethical or moral that an industry that is making money pays producers below the cost of production,” he said.  The WCPF has released a series of resolutions resulting from the forum: To promote the creation of a technological platform to aggregate and make available information and numbers to all segments of the coffee value chain, in a manner that creates transparency in business and price formulation. To develop a mechanism that facilitates the availability of information from producing origins through traceability of offered products and their specificities to end consumers. To promote the training of producers through technical assistance and rural extension for the professionalisation in property management and the acquisition of knowledge about market risks. To stimulate the development of innovative strategies and campaigns to promote coffee consumption, mainly in producing countries and emerging markets. To develop mechanisms, marketing strategies, and technological innovations that enable achieving remunerative prices for producers, such as “economic sustainability” and “roasted by origin” seals. To encourage each producer origin, at public and private levels, to develop national plans for sustainability for the coffee sector. That the WCPF Committee will move forward with creating a legal entity to plan and execute on the strategies in this declaration. The next WCPF shall be held in 2021. The committee will coordinate with cooperating countries to determine which city should hold the next event. For more information, visit www.worldcoffeeproducersforum.com.br/en/ Global Coffee Report has launched a LinkedIn Showcase page. Follow HERE for up-to-date news and analysis of the global coffee industry.