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India Coffee Traders Hold Back
Coffee exports in the first two months of the current calendar year plunged 58% as traders held back stocks anticipating better prices in the coming months. According to the provisional figures available with the Coffee Board, coffee exports in the first two months of 2007 (January 1, 2007 to March 1, 2007) declined to 13,867 tonne from 33,012 tonne in the same period a year before. In this period, India exported 9,175 tonne of Robusta and 4,730 tonne of Arabica.
The fact that demand for Indian coffee remained high is reflected by the permits issued by the Coffee Board in the first two months of this calendar. It marginally increased to 36,254 tonne from 36,024 tonne. Talking to FE, All-India Coffee Exporters' Association president Ramesh Raja said, "Holding back of stocks has led to short supply for exports in the past two months."
Raja said that Indian coffee estates were expected to harvest around 2.70 lakh tonne of coffee during the current season, compared to 2.88 lakh tonne in the last season. The harvest of Arabica beans, which started in November 2006, is expected to touch 80,000 tonne in the current season.
Raja said, "Almost 90% of Arabica beans were harvested, but more than 60% of them were stocked in India itself." The reason, he said, is because traders and growers were expecting higher prices for Arabica parchment, which declined to Rs 88 a kg from Rs 96 a kg two months ago.
www.financialexpress.com
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