RI to increase its arabica coffee output

RI to increase its arabica coffee output

VIENNA (Reuter): Indonesia, the world's biggest robusta coffee grower, said it had launched plans to increase production of mild washed arabica coffee.

Mansyur Tandiono, chairman of the promotion and specialty coffee department of the Association of Indonesian Coffee Exporters (AICE), said the AICE had decided to grow more arabica because of increased prices.

"At the moment only 10 percent of the total production is arabica and 90 percent is robusta. Now Indonesia is trying to switch from robusta to arabica because of the better prices," Tandiono told Reuters late on Wednesday.

"To estimate a big change in production figures quickly would not be possible, it has to happen gradually, but we hope that in 10 years we will see a 10 percent increase for arabica, to 20 percent of the total crop," he said.

Indonesia's total coffee output for the 1996/97 (November to October) crop year is expected to drop by at least 25 percent due to bad weather during the flowering period earlier this year, Tandiono said.

From a total production of close to 500,000 tons last season, of which 75 percent was exported, the figure is expected to drop 25 to 30 percent for robusta coffee and less for arabica production, he said.

"This year it (total arabica and robusta) will be around 350- 400,000 tons according to recent forecasts, so there will only be 230-280,000 tons for export as the local market consumes 120,000 tons.

"For arabica, we normally have between 45-50,000 tons, but it is only going to be about 35,000 tons now," he said.

Mild washed arabica is selling at prices considerably higher on the world's coffee markets than the cheaper robusta coffee.

Tandiono, speaking during the Second International Coffee and Tea Symposium conference in Vienna, said Indonesia also was trying to increase its percentage of high-quality specialty coffees other than arabica.

"The specialty coffees are not only arabicas, but also Indonesian washed robustas. At the moment only between three to five percent of the robusta in Indonesia is wet-processed," he said.

Robusta

The Indonesian move led market analysts to the prediction that emerging coffee producer Vietnam may become the world's biggest robusta producer, replacing Indonesia.

Meeting in Vienna for the Second International Coffee and Tea Symposium conference this week, the analysts and traders agreed the communist country of more than 70 million people was already closing in on Indonesia, currently the world's biggest robusta grower with an annual production of some 400,000 tons.

"Vietnam will most likely be the biggest producer of robusta coffee in the world in five years' time," said leading Italian coffee roaster Silvano Corsini, president of Caffe Corsini.

"Ten years ago they produced close to nothing and look at them now," he added. "We processed 100,000 bags (60 kg each) of green coffee last year, of which 25,000 bags came from Vietnam, and two years ago it was nothing."

Corsini said he planned to make increased use of Vietnamese coffee in his company's blends, because of the bean's relatively good quality.