ICCO MEMBERS ACCEPT BUFFER STOCK PRINCIPLES
International Cocoa Organization (ICCO)
producers and consumers accepted the principles of a compromise
proposal on buffer stock rules as a basis for further
negotiation, delegates said.
    The buffer stock working group then asked ICCO Executive
Director Kobena Erbynn, who wrote up the draft compromise, to
flesh out details of the principles with the assistance of a
representative group of delegates, they said.
    The working group broke up for the day, into a smaller
group of five producers and five consumers to discuss
administrative rules and into the group headed by Erbynn to
hammer out buffer stock rules details, delegates said.
    Delegates said many differences of opinion still have to be
ironed out. "Whenever we start getting into details the clouds
gather," one delegate said.
    Erbynn is likely to present fleshed out details of the
buffer stock rules proposal to the working group early
tomorrow, delegates said.
    The principles of the draft proposal included establishing
an offer system for buffer stock purchases rather than a posted
price system, a limit to the amount of non-ICCO member cocoa
that can be bought, and differentials to be paid for different
varieties of cocoa comprising the buffer stock, delegates said.
 REUTER
