ASEAN cocoa club talks about regional contract<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Southeast Asian cocoa producers opened a two-day
\nmeeting yesterday to discuss the possibility of establishing a
\ncommon regional trading contract as an alternative to the
\nexisting contracts of London, New York and Paris.<\/p>\n
The proposed contract, which Malaysia initiated to bridge the
\nquality gap among the region's cocoa producers and narrow cocoa
\nproducts' price disparities, would be used in the seven ASEAN
\ncountries.<\/p>\n
The draft contract covers business legal documents, national
\nstandards for cocoa beans, including weights, lot size, delivery,
\nquality testing and storage facilities .<\/p>\n
\"We want to provide a contract for the cocoa industry in the
\nregion (Asia and Oceania) to do transactions without having to
\nuse foreign contracts,\" P.S. Siswoputranto, the executive
\ndirector of Indonesian Cocoa Association, said during a break at
\nthe meeting.<\/p>\n
ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the
\nPhilippines, Thailand and Vietnam.<\/p>\n
Siswoputranto said the proposed contract was aimed at
\nguaranteeing a continual cocoa supply to the international market
\nand at raising production levels in the region to 500,000 tons a
\nyear by 2000 from 464,900 tons last year.<\/p>\n
\"Many have assumed that the quality of cocoa production in
\nSoutheast Asia is inferior to that in Africa, but really we have
\nsuperior cocoa products,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said the cocoa beans produced in East Java not only had a
\ngood aroma and taste but could also be used to make different
\ncolored cocoa products.<\/p>\n
By guaranteeing a standard cocoa bean quality more customers
\nwould buy from the region, he said.<\/p>\n
\"The question now is whether the proposed contract can gain
\nthe confidence of the world's business.\" he said.<\/p>\n
But Siswoputranto said the proposed contract would probably
\nnot be realized soon.<\/p>\n
\"We are still exploring all possibilities,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Siswoputranto said there were still many other aspects of the
\ndraft contract which needed to be studied. They include an
\narbitration mechanism for dispute settlement and contract
\nmanagement matters.<\/p>\n
Besides the proposed contract, the meeting which ends today
\nwill discuss cooperation in upstream and downstream activities
\nand regional cooperation in cocoa pest and disease control.<\/p>\n
Indonesia and Malaysia are the region's top two cocoa
\nproducers. Last year, Indonesia produced 295,000 tons of cocoa
\nbeans and Malaysia 120,000.<\/p>\n
Regional cocoa bean production including that of Papua New
\nGuinea was 464,900 tons last year. This was about 17 percent of
\nthe world's 2.73 million tons. (02)<\/p>\n
Output -- Page 12<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/asean-cocoa-club-talks-about-regional-contract-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }