Friday, June 27, 2003


vietnam, indonesia sign coffee agreement

long-time readers know that i follow the developments in the world-price depression known as the coffee crisis with some care.

and today's no exception, even as i finalize all the details of tomorrow's awesome scaa nyc consumer member coffee event weekend at dallis.

recently vietnam, whose entry into the coffee market with its huge supply of low-quality beans has helped precipitate the problem, announced it was getting out of the robusta business.

to put some teeth in this, that country has apparently signed an agreement with indonesia, also a large robusta producer. this agreement seems to pledge that both countries will cut their robusta exports by 50%, according to the financial times.

further, the article suggests, the agreement could allow the two countries to act in the coffee market much in same way that opec does to set world oil prices.

also, today's washington post sees a nice article that suggests the u.s.a. may shortly rejoin the i.c.o.. and it quotes my pal ted lingle!

long-time readers know that getting the u.s.a. back with the i.c.o. has been one of my pet projects for a while. . .

posted by fortune | 11:08 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments