Crisis to slow coffee demand

Crisis to slow coffee demand

LONDON (Reuters): Slower coffee demand in Indonesia and the rest of Asia following the financial crisis could raise robusta coffee availability by one million bags this year, the Association of Coffee Producing Countries (ACPC) said.

Indonesia is one of the world's largest robusta coffee producers.

But the ACPC said in a report that delays in the Indonesian crop and the strength of imports into South Korea last year suggest that the extra robusta availability would not be available until the second half of the current year.

It also said a strong South Korean currency against the Indonesian rupiah should help alleviate the consumption drop in South Korea, where robustas formed 45 percent of market share.