Coffee surplus to decrease

Coffee surplus to decrease

HANOI (AP): World coffee experts said Wednesday they expect supply to continue to outpace demand this year but that the gap is likely to reverse in the 1999-2000 season.

The predictions range from Hamburg-based Neumann Kaffee Gruppe's estimate of a surplus of 4.9 million 60-kilogram (132- pound) bags to the International Coffee Organization's estimate of a 5.8-million-bag excess.

NKG forecast global coffee output in 1998-99 at 107.6 million bags, up 11.6 million bags from its estimate for the previous year. The increase is attributed to Brazil's 1998-99 output rising by 13.7 million bags to 36.7 million bags.

The London-based ICO presented a paper at the Asia International Coffee Conference in Hanoi that estimated output worldwide in the 1998-99 year at 105.2 million bags, up 9.7 million bags from its estimate for 1997-98.