ACPC predicts coffee output will fall 25%<\/p>\n
SURABAYA, East Java (JP): The Association of Indonesian Coffee
\nExporters (ACPC) predicts the country's coffee output will fall
\nabout 25 percent to 350,000 tons this year from 469,000 tons in
\n1996 because of bad weather.<\/p>\n
\"It will be very difficult to reach an output of 350,000
\ntons,\" the association's chairman, Oesman Soedargo, said Monday
\non the sidelines of a ceremony to celebrate the coffee plant of
\nPT Aneka Coffee Industry in Sidoarjo, west of here.<\/p>\n
The decline in output predicted for the harvest in April\/May
\nwas blamed on last year's strong winds and heavy rains. The bad
\nweather has hindered the flowering of trees in coffee producing
\nareas.<\/p>\n
Analysts earlier predicted the bad weather would cause
\nIndonesia's coffee production to drop 40 percent.<\/p>\n
They feared the bad harvest would further boost world coffee
\nprices which had rallied over the past two months.<\/p>\n
The price of robusta, mainly produced in Asia and Africa and
\nused to make instant coffee, hit US$1,800 a ton last week in
\nLondon before slipping back to $1,650 a ton. Robust prices were
\nonly $1,200 early this year.<\/p>\n
Indonesian farmers sell coffee for between Rp 3,000 ($1.2) and
\nRp 3,500 a kilogram, the highest level in the last two years.<\/p>\n
Indonesia is the world's largest robusta producer and the
\nthird overall coffee producer after Brazil and Columbia.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's coffee output rose to 467,000 tons in 1996 from
\n455,000 tons in 1995 and 450,000 tons in 1994.<\/p>\n
Last year, Indonesia exported 320,000 tons of coffee, which
\nrepresented 8 percent of world demand.<\/p>\n
Oesman did not say how much Indonesia planned to export this
\nyear.<\/p>\n
The Association of Coffee Producing Countries (ACPC) gives
\nIndonesia an export limit of 360,000 tons a year. But, Indonesia
\nhas requested the limit be reduced to 351,000 tons, said Oesman.<\/p>\n
Speculation<\/p>\n
Oesman said the coffee price surge was caused by speculative
\ntraders at the New York and London commodity bourses, rather than
\nbecause of news of failed harvests in many countries.<\/p>\n
Analysts said coffee prices started to pick up in the second
\nweek of January on reports that crops in Brazil, the world's
\nlargest coffee producer, might fall to 20 percent because of bad
\nweather.<\/p>\n
\"Speculators always determine the prices whatever the harvest
\nis. If they want the price up, they will take it up. If they want
\nit down, they will take it down. Coffee stock does not count,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
ACPC's technical committee will hold a meeting later this week
\nin London to discuss ways to keep prices high.<\/p>\n
In its meeting in Rio de Janeiro in January, when prices were
\nstill low, the association agreed to reduce exports from its 15
\nmember countries this year by 1.3 million 60-kilogram bags.<\/p>\n
Oesman said the coming meeting would discuss if export limits
\nwere still necessary with current prices.<\/p>\n
Some members wanted the association remove export limits so
\nmember countries could export as much as they want, Oesman said.
\n(jsk)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/acpc-predicts-coffee-output-will-fall-25-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}