Coffee producers meet to study price surge

Coffee producers meet to study price surge

LONDON (Reuter): The Association of Coffee Producing
Countries' (ACPC) technical group started a meeting yesterday
aimed at addressing the recent surge in coffee prices and its
impact on consumption.

The group, made up of representatives of El Salvador, Brazil,
Ivory Coast, Colombia, Uganda and Indonesia, could formulate
measures to tackle the price escalation and ensure a steady
supply pipeline to the market, ACPC officials have said.

ACPC President Rubens Barbosa of Brazil chaired the one-day
meeting.

While no major decision is expected to emerge, traders are
keeping a close watch in case the gathering yields crop updates.

The technical group is expected to report its findings and any
necessary measures to the full 14-member ACPC council meeting
which is not due to meet until May.

The council last met in Rio de Janeiro in late January when it
decided to cut a further 1.3 million 60-kg bags of coffee from
members' exports in the first six months of 1997.

World coffee prices had risen by more than 50 percent since
early January on a combination of factors including forecasts of
lower Brazil's upcoming crop and recent supply disruptions from
Colombia.

But the market had started to come down after hitting a peak
of 209.50 cents a lb basis May on the New York futures on March
5. It closed at 168.10 cents on Wednesday.