COLOMBIA COFFEE EXPORTERS BELIEVE IN PRAGMATISM
Private coffee exporters say Colombia's
more pragmatic coffee marketing policy will ensure that the
country does not suffer excessively from current depressed
prices and erratic market conditions.
    Gilberto Arango, president of the exporters' association,
said in an interview that Colombia, the world's second largest
producer, was in a position to withstand a prolonged absence of
International Coffee Organization (ICO) export quotas.
    "Colombia is one of the countries that will benefit most
from this situation," he said.
    Recent ICO talks in London failed to break a deadlock over
re-introduction of export quotas, suspended in February 1986,
and no date has been set for a new meeting on the issue.
    Arango said that government measures adopted here last
week, including a lower export registration price, indicated a
major change but also disclosed a welcome pragmatism.
    "This is the start of a new era in Colombia because world
market conditions are also new," he said.
    The government lowered local taxes for exporters and said
the export registration price, or reintegro, will be changed
more often in order to closely reflect market trends.
    Arango said an illustration of Colombia's new attitude was
the decision on Friday to open export registrations for an
unlimited amount.
    But he added it did not imply the country would begin heavy
selling of coffee.
    "Our marketing policy is to sell without haste but
consistently. No targets for volume will be set. We will react
to market factors adequately and Colombia has no intention of
giving its coffee away."
    Colombia's past records should be the basis for upcoming
exports, he said.
    "We will certainly not export seven mln (60-kilo) bags but
neither are we going to sell like mad. The trade knows full
well what Colombia's export potential is," he said.
    Colombia, with stockpiles standing at about 10 mln bags,
exported a record 11.5 mln bags in the 1985/86 coffee year
which ended last September, and 11.3 mln in calendar 1986.
    Arango did not want to commit himself on export predictions
but said that output for the 1986/87 coffee year would not
exceed 10.5 mln bags, compared with 12 mln forecast by the
National Coffee Growers' Federation and 12.5 mln by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, a figure he said was "ridiculous."
    He said ageing plantations and rust, in particular in the
number one producing province of Antioquia, meant output was
likely to fall but that nationwide estimates were rare and
oscillated between 9.5 mln and 11.5 mln bags.
    On the failure of the recent ICO talks, Arango said
Colombia understandably felt frustrated at not having managed
to force a compromise.
    Jorge Cardenas, manager of the national federation and head
of his nation's delegation in London, has blamed the
intransigence of some big countries, without naming them.
    However, Arango, like Colombian Finance Minister Cesar
Gaviria last week, was more explicit and said the United States
would undoubtedly be under great political pressure in coming
weeks to revise its policy.
    "Washington will have to take into account that for many
countries, and some of its allies for instance in Central
America, a sharp fall in coffee export revenue would have
far-reaching political and economic consequences."
    Arango ruled out a fresh Colombian initiative on export
quotas saying producers had now to show a common resolve which
could emerge from continuous contacts.
 Reuter
