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.
  

