Coffee meeting canceled

Coffee meeting canceled

JAKARTA (JP): A meeting of top robusta coffee producers scheduled for today on the resort island of Bali has been canceled, an Indonesian official said yesterday.

Paian Nainggolan, Indonesia's representative to the Association of Coffee Producing Countries (ACPC), told Reuters the meeting was called off after Ivory Coast Commodities Minister Guy-Alain Gauze informed organizers he could not attend.

"We were informed last night that Mr Gauze could not attend the meeting because of unavoidable circumstances," he said.

"So we (robusta producers) held an informal discussion on Tuesday night. We did not take any decision at the meeting since it was informal and did not have an agenda," he said.

He said the meeting did not discuss the sharing of export cuts decided on by the ATPC.

But he said Brazil had proposed talks on the issue could be held during the International Coffee Organization (ICO) meeting in May in London.

"There was no decision on the Brazilian proposal," he added. The ACPC decided at its meeting in Brazil on Jan. 23 to reduce robusta exports by one million 60-kg bags in the first half of this year. Indonesia has decided to reduce its exports by 150,000 bags in the period.