ICO COUNCIL ENDS IN FAILURE TO AGREE QUOTAS
A special meeting of the International
Coffee Organization (ICO) council failed to agree on how to set
coffee export quotas, ICO delegates said.
    Producers and consumers could not find common ground on the
issue of quota distribution in eight days of arduous, often
heated talks, delegates said.
    Export quotas -- the major device of the International
Coffee Agreement to stabilise prices -- were suspended a year
ago after coffee prices soared in reaction to a drought in
Brazil which cut its output by two thirds.
    Delegates and industry representatives predicted coffee
prices could plummet more than 100 stg a tonne to new four year
lows tomorrow in response to the results of the meeting.
 Reuter
