Reuters | February 25, 2002 | by Anne Boher
MAN, Ivory Coast - Unsold coffee is piling up in Ivory Coast's main growing region near the peak of the season as exporters await details of a promised subsidy scheme before buying, farmers and buyers said.
Africa's biggest robusta grower has set a minimum farm price of 200 CFA francs ($0.27) per kg, but exporters want to know how they will be compensated for the difference between that and a market price they suspect might be only half as much.
In the key coffee town of Man, hundreds of tonnes of coffee piled up in front of the buying office of Nestle, which is still buying 30 to 40 tonnes a day so that it can feed its local processing plant.
"Nestle is the only one buying at the right price at the moment. Private buyers have stopped now as they don't have final clients for their beans," said Jean Kafando, a farmer who had spent a week waiting at the Nestle buying centre.
Employees there said it could take a month before they got around to looking at anyone's beans.
Nestle, which has a 23,000 tonne coffee plant, has cut its reference price to 230 francs from 250 earlier in the season.
The only other major buyer in town is Sifca-Coop, owned by the main farmers' group Anaproci. But farmers at the store said Sifca-Coop was buying only 20 tonnes of beans a day at a price of 215 francs per kg.
Ivory Coast set a minimum price for coffee in January to help farmers struggling because of a long-term fall in world prices, but talks on how a compensation system for buyers would work ground to a halt earlier this month.
Farmers around Man said private buyers had proposed prices between 150 and 175 francs per kg for coffee which had already been hulled - a process which costs farmers a further 25 francs per kg.
"Even if the price isn't right, we sell our coffee because we don't have the choice," said Sylvain, a farmer from the nearby village of Gueupleu which is heavily dependent on coffee.
"All the stores in town are closed," he said, adding that low prices were encouraging many farmers to abandon their coffee trees.
At the same period of last year, prices in the area were about 300 francs per kg.
Farmers say the 2001/02 coffee crop will be lower than last year's. Crop analysts estimate it will be around 170,000 tonnes, well below the 220,000 tonne average because of poor growing conditions and the lack of upkeep.Reuters:
