---------------------------------------------------------- Visit Indonesia Daily News Online HomePage: http://www.indo-news.com/ Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ---------------------------------------------------------- Jakarta Post 24 July 1999 Indonesia gets lower coffee export quota=20 JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's coffee export quota will be reduced by 3 percent t= o=20 5.68 million 60-kilogram bags (340,800 metric tons) in the 1999/2000 harvest=20 year from 5.85 million 60-kilogram bags in the 1998/1999 harvest year, a=20 senior trade official said on Friday.=20 Director General of International Trade Djoko Moeljono said the lower export=20 quota was part of an agreement with other members of the Association of=20 Coffee Producing Countries (ACPC) in a bid to prop up prices.=20 He said other member countries also agreed to cut exports by 3 percent for=20 the 1999/2000 harvest year, from Oct. 1, 1999, to Sept. 30, 2000.=20 "Under the recently signed ACPC agreement, Indonesia's export program for th= e=20 1999/2000 harvest year is set at 5.68 million bags, or 3 percent lower than=20 the 5.85 million bags set for the 1998/1999 harvest year," he told reporters= .=20 He added the agreement was signed during the ACPC meeting in Brazil on July=20 6.=20 Djoko said coffee prices on the international market continued to plunge=20 since August last year due to a surge in exports from Brazil, the world's=20 biggest coffee grower.=20 He said Brazil exported 24 million bags (1.44 million tons) of coffee this=20 harvest year, far above its agreed export program of 15 million bags, due to=20 bumper crops. The move has led to an oversupply on the international market=20 and resulted in the sharp drop in prices.=20 Djoko said ACPC, a group of 14 coffee-producing countries, including Brazil,=20 Colombia, El Salvador, Indonesia, Uganda and the Inter-African Coffee=20 Organization, set an annual export program for each member in order to=20 stabilize coffee prices.=20 "But since it was not an official export quota, there was no punishment for=20 Brazil. It only received a reprimand from other ACPC members in the meeting,= "=20 he said.=20 Coffee bean prices on the international market are down to a current 24 U.S.=20 cents per kilogram from 73 cents per kilogram in September.=20 Djoko said to raise prices, ACPC members agreed to cut their export volume b= y=20 three percent, while Brazil exports would be maintained at 15 million bags.=20 The Association of Indonesian Coffee Exporters (AICE) said on Friday that th= e=20 agreement to lower the export volume was badly needed to lift prices.=20 "Although 1999/2000 production will be higher, we agree to cut exports in a=20 bid to lift prices. It is important to push up prices in order to increase=20 export earnings," AICE's executive secretary Noer Madjid told The Jakarta=20 Post on Friday.=20 He warned, however, since Vietnam, Indonesia's closest rival on the list of=20 coffee exporters, was not an ACPC member, it was likely that Vietnam's=20 exports would exceed Indonesia's in the 1999/2000 harvest year.=20 Indonesia is the world's third-largest coffee producer after Brazil and=20 Colombia, with an output of 420,000 tons in 1997/1998. The country's=20 production is 90 percent robusta and 10 percent arabica.=20 Lower production=20 Noer said AICE revised its estimate for coffee production this year to=20 330,000 tons from a previous forecast of 470,000 tons.=20 He said heavy rains caused by the La Ni=A4a weather pattern could damage=20 harvest of coffee in some important producing areas.=20 "According to surveys and reports from our chapters, we predict our coffee=20 production can not reach the 470,000 tons targeted earlier due to unfavorabl= e=20 weather in most of the production areas," he said.=20 "We estimate that Indonesia's coffee output this year will only reach 330,00= 0=20 tons."=20 Excessive rains and strong winds since October, which hit coffee buds mostly=20 in the area south of the equator, has distrupted the flowering process.=20 The country's coffee production was earlier predicted to reach 470,000 tons,=20 in which 350,000 tons would be exported and the rest, 120,000 tons, would be=20 sold domestically. But until the middle of July, production has only reached=20 over 200,000 tons.=20 "With monthly production amounting to 20,000 tons, it is impossible that we=20 can produce 470,000 tons in the next three months," he said.=20 Noer said Indonesia usually faced a peak in coffee harvest in the May-=20 October period, but this year most coffee buds in the country's coffee belt=20 could not bloom.=20 But Noer said coffee exports in the 1998/1999 harvest year would not drop=20 drastically since domestic consumption was predicted to fall sharply this=20 year.=20 Indonesia's main robusta-producing areas are South Sumatra, Lampung and=20 Bengkulu. The three Sumatran provinces, which traders call Indonesia's coffe= e=20 triangle, produce up to 70 percent of Indonesia's total production of coffee= .=20 The country's arabica coffee is produced in Aceh; North Tapanuli, North=20 Sumatra; Toraja, South Sulawesi; and by state-owned coffee plantations in=20 East Java and Central Java. (gis)=20 Indonesia Unhulled Rice Output Seen To Rise 0.6% This Year JAKARTA, July 23 Asia Pulse - Indonesia's output of unhulled rice this year=20 is estimated to edge up 0.6% to 49.53 million tons, the official statistic=20 office BPS said in a statement on Thursday. BPS said the country's production of unhulled rice would rise despite a an=20 expected 0.91% decline in harvest areas to a total of 11.62 million hectares=20 this year. "This means a significant improvement in productivity," the BPS statement=20 said. In 1998 production was 41.97 quintals per hectare, up to an estimated 42.61=20 quintals in 1999. BPS said maize corn production would drop 10.18% to 9.13 million tons in 199= 9=20 and that of dry soybean would slide 2.34% to 1.28 million tons. The country is expected to import 2 million tons of hulled rice in the fisca= l=20 year starting April. The government has said it would import rise from Egypt, Pakistan, Vietnam,=20 Thailand, Myanmar, China and Taiwan. The country enjoyed long self sufficienty in rice starting 1984 before it=20 became the world's largest importer of the staple food. (ANTARA)=20 =20 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 24 Jul 1999 jam 11:25:29 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
