COCOA CONSUMERS NARROW GAP ON BUFFER STOCK ISSUE

  Representatives of cocoa consuming
  countries at an International Cocoa Organization, ICCO, council
  meeting here have edged closer to a unified stance on buffer
  stock rules, delegates said.
      While consumers do not yet have a common position, an
  observer said after a consumer meeting, "They are much more
  fluid ... and the tone is positive."
      European Community consumers were split on the question of
  how the cocoa buffer stock should be operated when the ICCO met
  in January to put the new International Cocoa Agreement into
  effect, delegates said.
      At the January meeting, France sided with producers on how
  the buffer stock should operate, delegates said. That meeting
  ended without agreement on new buffer stock rules.
      The EC Commission met in Brussels on Friday to see whether
  the 12 EC cocoa consuming nations could narrow their
  differences at this month's meeting.
      The Commissioners came away from the Friday meeting with an
  informal agreement to respond to signs of flexibility among
  producers on the key buffer stock issues, delegates said.
      The key issues to be addressed at this council session
  which divide ICCO members are whether non-member cocoa should
  be eligible for buffer stock purchases and what price
  differentials the buffer stock should pay for different types
  of cocoa, delegates said.
      A consumer delegate said producers and consumers should be
  able to compromise on the non-member cocoa question.
      A working group comprising delegates from all producing and
  consuming member countries met briefly this morning, then broke
  up into a producer meeting and an EC meeting, followed by a
  consumer meeting.
      Producers, who are in favour of the buffer stock buying a
  variety of grades of cocoa and oppose non-member cocoa being
  accepted, reviewed their position ahead of the working group
  meeting this afternoon.
      "We are waiting to see what consumers say," a producer
  delegate said. "We hope they will be flexible or it will be
  difficult to negotiate."
      The ICCO comprises 33 member countries. Non-
  members include the U.S., a consumer, and Malaysia, an
  increasingly important producer.
  

