ICO Agreement ready for signing after Council meeting

27th January 2008

The newly drafted International Coffee Agreement will be available for signature by its 77 member nations on February 1, according to ICO executive director Dr Nestor Osorio, speaking at the late January Council meeting of the worldwide coffee body held in London.

The Agreement, details of which were formally agreed in September (see previous story here), need to be ratified by its adherents, and is expected to come into force by the fourth quarter of this year, Dr Osorio said.

The Council decided to make the ICO itself the depositary body for the Agreement, after the issue of official languages made it no longer possible to have the United Nations fulfil that function.

The ICO Council also decided to organise a seminar on geographical indicators in coffee, which is to be scheduled at the May Council meeting, set for May 19-22, Dr Osorio reported.

Regarding the international market situation, the ICO’s executive director said, the 2006 recovery of the market, which continued through last year, looked set to remain firm for 2008, with world production in the range of 123-126m bags, and world consumption very close to the same levels. This balance gave the market “a certain firmness”, Dr Osorio said, especially when combined with the current record low world green coffee stock levels.

More countries are now providing the ICO with information on compliance with targets under the body’s Coffee Quality Improvement Program (CQP), Dr Osorio added, under which member nations undertake not to export green coffee below a certain basic quality standard.