Vietnam and RI doubt coffee move

Vietnam and RI doubt coffee move

HANOI (Reuters): Vietnam, the world's biggest producer of
robusta coffee, raised doubts on Wednesday about the
effectiveness of a proposal to cut exports of low-quality coffee
by five percent in an effort to boost prices.

A senior official of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association
(Vicofa) said Vietnam would support the proposal, but it would
take some time to convince farmers.

The Association of Coffee Producing Countries (ACPC) plans to
vote next week on the plan, which would follow a failing
retention scheme in which it called for a withdrawal of 20
percent of exports from the oversupplied market.

"If the plan to retain 20 percent doesn't work, then this five
percent plan will go to nowhere," said a senior Vicofa official.
"No one wants to buy low-quality beans anyway given current low
world prices."

Indonesian coffee exporters have strongly rejected the ACPC
proposal and said it would only harm robusta producers such as
Vietnam and Indonesia as robusta was considered lower quality
than pricey arabica beans.

The Vietnamese official said most low-quality coffee in
Vietnam was produced by private farmers, who would need to be
persuaded not to release the beans onto the market.

"We would support the ACPC decision, but it will take time to
convince farmers," he said.

Although Vietnam is not a member of ACPC, it has retained
150,000 tons of beans, or nearly 20 percent of its 2000/2001
crop's output, to assist the body's efforts to boost prices.

"There's no problem if we have to keep low-quality beans in
warehouses," said a state exporter from the coffee-producing
province Daklak. "Low quality coffee has its own price, and it
can wait."

Vietnam has estimated its 2000/2001 crop output at 800,000
tons. It usually ships about 95 percent of production.