Asia poised for bigger coffee output

Asia poised for bigger coffee output

SINGAPORE (AFP): Asia's share of global coffee supplies should increase substantially following upbeat production forecasts yesterday by leading producers Indonesia and Vietnam at a regional coffee conference here, officials said.

Asian producers, who control 17 percent of world coffee supplies, already account for about 45 percent of robusta coffee output and more than five percent of arabica coffee production, they said.

"Asia's market share of global production is expected to reach 20 percent by the end of the century," Paul Moeller, president of Volcafe Ltd., a Swiss coffee importer, told the first Asian international coffee conference.

Moeller told about 200 officials attending the conference that Asia's production share for the robusta type of coffee could reach 60 percent by 2000 from 50 percent currently.

Africa's robusta coffee production has declined from about 740,000 tons in 1988 to a low of 480,000 tons in 1993, while Asia's share for such coffee increased from 684,000 tons in 1988 to 780,000 tons in 1993, officials said.

Brazil, the world's largest arabica coffee producer, was hit by unexpected frosts damaging much of its coffee crop. Lack of rain and excessive dryness on already frost damaged trees have hurt the production further, they said.

Indonesia

Indonesia, Asia's number one coffee producer, was tipped to increase production by 2.76 percent per annum from 457,300 tons in 1994 to 519,200 tons in 1998, said Paian Nainggolan, a senior Indonesian government official.

Indonesia is the third largest producer and exporter of coffee after Brazil and Colombia. It is also the world's largest producer and exporter of robusta coffee.

Paian, who is head of research and development in Indonesia's Trade Ministry, said Indonesia's areas for coffee plantation were projected to grow by 2.53 percent per year from some 1.16 million hectares (2.86 million acres) in 1994 to 1.28 million hectares in 1998.

Vietnam, now with the world's highest average yield coffee per hectare, was expected to increase annual production from 175,000 tons currently to 200,000 tons, officials said. Some 140,000 hectares are planted with coffee in Vietnam at present.

"The target of 200,000 hectares of coffee with more than 200,000 tons of coffee beans (in exports) will be reached by the beginning of the next century," Ngo The Dan, Vietnam's deputy agriculture and food industry minister, told the conference.

Vietnam was also planning to expand Arabica coffee planting in its northern mountainous areas where soil and climatic conditions were suitable for such cultivation, he said.

Officials said that, on average, coffee suppliers in the Asian region produce both arabica and robusta coffee at a cost of about five percent below the averages in other regions.

The three-day conference is being held ahead of Singapore's launching of the Robusta Standard Grade futures contract in mid- February to serve Asia's growing market for the commodity and allow traders to hedge prices within the region's time zones.

At present, international futures trading in coffee, the second biggest financially traded commodity after oil, is offered only on the London and New York commodity exchanges.

Foreign coffee traders said introduction of the contract in Singapore was appropriate in view of Asia's growing robusta production potential.