Coffee shipments unaffected by attacks

Coffee shipments unaffected by attacks

Dow Jones, Singapore

Asian coffee export shipments for the fourth quarter haven't
been hampered by the U.S.-led attack against targets in
Afghanistan, industry participants said Monday.

Exporters from India, Vietnam and Indonesia said their
shipments will arrive as scheduled in Europe, Japan or U.S. ports
as the vessels carrying the coffee won't pass through the
conflict zone.

"Indian coffee is shipped out mostly through the Cochin or
Chennai ports in the southern part of India. These ports are far
from Afghanistan," said Hameed Huq, vice president for operations
of Tata Coffee Ltd. - one of India's biggest coffee exporters.

"We haven't heard of any delays," said one official at a major
trading house in Ho Chi Minh city.

Some Mediterranean ports are reportedly charging a war
surcharge for incoming shipments, he added. But he said any such
surcharge isn't collected in most European ports or in other
ports around the world.

Nuril Hakim, vice chairman of Indonesia Coffee Exporters
Association, said Indonesia's coffee shipments to Japan, South
Korea and Europe are on schedule.

"The Indonesian exporters' problem now is the low world prices
and big production from Vietnam and Brazil," Nuril said, adding
that the conflict between the U.S. and Afghanistan isn't a main
concern for the association at the moment.