China hosts int'l coffee science conference

The 26th international conference on coffee science opened here on Sunday in southwest China's Yunnan Province, the country's largest coffee producer.

The conference, which will last until Nov. 19, attracts about 400 coffee experts and entrepreneurs from nearly 60 countries and regions.

The participants will discuss such subjects as coffee chemistry, coffee's sustainable development and relationship with people's health, according to the organizer.

Currently, China's coffee plantation area exceeds 120,000 hectares, with an output of 140,000 tonnes. Yunnan accounts for more than 99 percent of the country's coffee output.

Coffee consumption is growing in China. China's imports of coffee increased from 13,900 tonnes in 1998 to 59,200 tonnes in 2015, or an average annual growth of 13.7 percent. Endi