India signs coffee pact

India has signed the International Coffee Agreement 2007 in London. The agreement aims to strengthen the International Coffee Organisation’s (ICO) role as a forum for inter-governmental consultations, facilitate international trade through increased transparency and access to relevant information, and promote a sustainable coffee economy for the benefit of all stakeholders and particularly of small-scale farmers in coffee producing countries.

India’s acceptance of the agreement would be essential to maintain the ICO as a forum for international cooperation on coffee matters. Further, India accounts for about 4.5 per cent of the world coffee production and the industry provides employment to 600,000 people.

The new agreement is an important instrument for development cooperation and will provide the legal framework for core activities undertaken by the organisation in the future.

Around 15 of ICO’s 45 exporting members are least-developed countries, and the 25 million small coffee farmers and their families who produce 70 per cent of the world’s coffee are particularly affected by the fluctuations in market prices and, imbalances in supply and demand.

The preamble specifically acknowledges the contribution of a sustainable coffee sector to the achievement of internationally-agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, particularly with regards to poverty eradication.

Recently, the Union Cabinet approved signing the agreement by India and empowered India’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom to sign the instrument in this regard and deposit the same with the depository - International Coffee Organisation, London.

Among the coffee growing states, Karnataka accounts for 70 per cent of country’s coffee production followed by Kerala (22 per cent) and Tamil Nadu (7 per cent).

Europe accounts for about 70 per cent of India’s coffee exports. Of this, 70 per cent is exported to Italy, Germany, the Russian Federation, Spain, Belgium, Slovenia, the US, Japan, Greece, Netherlands and France.

The International Coffee Agreement 2007, the seventh agreement since 1962, was agreed upon by the 77 members of the International Coffee Council meeting in London on September 28, 2007 and was formally adopted by the council through resolution 431.