A meeting to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ICO is taking place in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, from 9 to 12 September 2013, followed by a technical visit to a coffee farm on Friday 13 September.

SAO PAULO, KOMPAS – Delegasi perdagangan Indionesia mengangkat isu pentingnya penerapan sistem sertifikasi nasional tentang produksi kopi dalam pertemuan Organisasi Kopi International di Brasil.

Saat ini muncul berbagai macam standar sertifikasi kopi yang disyaratkan pembeli sehingga menyulitkan Negara produsen seperti Indonesia.

Wartawan Kompas, FX Laksana Agung Saputra, melaporkan, Organisasi Kopi International Coffee Organization/ICO) menggelarkan pertemuan di Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 9-12 September 2013. Hal ini bertepatan dengan ulang tahun ke 50 organisasi yang anggotanya adalah Negara produsen dan Negara konsumen kopi tersebut.

Dalam kesempatan itu pidato Wakil Menteri Perdagangan Bayu Krisnamurthi dibacakan oleh anggota Staf kementerian Perdagangan sebagai sikap dan aspirasi Indonesia.

Intinya adalah menyangkut persoalan standar kualitas dan sertifikasi keamanan pangan yang didiktekan Negara-negara konsumen ataupun perusahaan-perusahaan pembeli. Bagi Negara produsen seperti Indonesia, ini memberatkan.  Posisi  Indonesia  adalah mengampanyekan standard dan sertifikat nasional.

Selain pada forum ICO, kampanye juga dilakukan Indonesia dengan mendekati pemerintah Brasil. Dalam pertemuan bilateral dengan kementerian Perindustrian Perdagangan Brazil menurut Bayu, Indonesia dan Brasil, sepakat meningkatkan kerjasama di bidang kopi. Kami ingin kerjasama yang pelaksanaannya antar usahawan sehingga kita bisa lebih berperan di pasar kopi dunia dan tidak ditentukan oleh konsumen atau Negara lain,” kata Bayu.

Menurut Direktur Kerja Sama APEC dan Organsiasi Internasional Lainnya Kementerian Perdagangan  Deny W Kurnia sertifikasi ekspor kopi saat ini didikte oleh swasta atau pembeli. Prosedur dan ragamnya pun terlalu banyak dan rumit. Ujung-ujungnya adalah biayanya mahal. Ini sudah tidak sejalan dengan rekomendasi Organisasi Perdagangan Dunia (WTO).

Kami ingin adanya pengaturan yang lebih sederhana. Ada standar keamanan pangan dan ada standar kualitas masing-masing jenis kata Deny.

Mengacu rekomendasi WTO, Deny menjelaskan standar yang ditetapkan organisasi-organisasi standar dunia antar pemerintah mestinya menjadi acuan. Namun kenyataannya, standar swasta yang dikembangkan oleh pihak pembeli atau LSM pro lingkungan di Negara pembeli yang menjadi acuan. “Padahal tak jarang bidang advokasi LSM jauh kaitannya dari urusan kopi“ kata Deny.

Konsultan Gabungan Eksportir Kopi Indonesia (GAEKI) Moenardji Soedargo, yang juga hadir pada pertemuan ICO, menyatakan sertifikasi  yang  ditetapkan konsumen membebani petani dan pelaku usaha karena mahal. Misalnya ada yang biayanya mencapai 6.000 dollar AS per merek. Padahal isinya 90 persen tumpang tindih. <HARIAN KOMPAS (KOMODITAS), Sabtu 14 Sept. 2013 >

ICO’s 50th anniversary meeting ends with support for market regulation

Posted on Sunday 15th, September 2013.
The 50th International Coffee Organization (ICO) General Meeting held in Belo Horizonte from 9 – 13 September has focused on improving support for producers, with the aim of raising coffee prices.

“We have made important progress during this four-day-meeting, regarding support to small producers from emerging countries,” said the ICO’s Executive Director, Robério Silva in a statement. “In addition, International Coffee Organization (ICO) considers favorably the policies recently adopted by Brazilian Government regarding crop flow regulation,” he said, referring to the Brazilian Government’s decision to withdraw 13 million bags of coffee from the market.

Participants approved the Belo Horizonte’s Declaration, which contains the main agreed subjects discussed during the four-day-meeting. The declaration reiterates the ICO’s commitment to providing statistical information, and objective and comprehensive economic data on the global coffee market, in order to enable decision-making based on accurate and updated data. More than 150 ICO delegates, 58 observers, and 79 invited guests from 70 countries attended the meeting.

According to the Operation Director Maurício Galindo (from Colombia) the fall in prices particularly concerns the sector. “We are almost reaching the price plateau in 2009, which was of US$1.17 a pound of coffee. One aggravating factor of the international market value besides the fall in price is the inevitable increase of the production costs.”

Despite this concern, Galindo said he expected demand to continue growing at around 2 per cent annually “We are noticing a significant increase in demand, mainly due to rugged form, seen in the soluble coffee, which is most consumed in emerging countries. It leads us to believe that the coffee demand for the years to come will be even more significant. Another piece of data that leads us to this conclusion is the US economic recovery, given that country is the largest coffee consumer.”

One of the ICO’s main challenges for the coming years is to obtain financing from multilateral organizations, according to Robério Silva. “The World Bank, Inter-American Bank, and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization may perform an important role, regarding support to small producers and cooperatives opening the doors for obtainment of these resources,” he said.

http://globalcoffeereview.com/news/article/icos-50th-anniversary-meeting-ends-with-support-for-market-regulation

ICO – Anniversary celebrations in full swing

By Desk3 – September 10, 2013

BELO HORIZONTE – The Opening Ceremony of the 50th Anniversary Meetings of the International Coffee Organization took place on Monday 9 September 2013 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The Anniversary Meetings was opened by H.E. Antonio Augusto Anastasia, Governor of Minas Gerais. Keynote speeches were made by the ICO’s Executive Director, Robério Oliveira Silva; H.E. Antonio Andrade, Minister of Agriculture, Brazil; H.E. Fernando Pimentel, Minister of Commerce and Foreign Trade, Brazil; and H.E. Eduardo Santos, Acting Minister of External Affairs, Brazil.

The ICO Head of Operations made a presentation on the market report to the International Coffee Council during its 111th Session.

The Council reviewed the status of the 2007 Agreement which entered into force on 2 February 2011. As at 9 September 2013, 45 Governments are Members and a further 5 Governments are in the process of completing membership procedures.

The Council approved a Resolution extending the deadline for deposit of instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession until 30 September 2014. The Anniversary Meetings will last through Thursday.

The International Coffee Organization (ICO) is the main intergovernmental organization for coffee, bringing together exporting and importing Governments to tackle the challenges facing the world coffee sector through international cooperation.

Its Member Governments represent 97% of world coffee production and over 80% of world consumption. The ICO’s mission is to strengthen the global coffee sector and promote its sustainable expansion in a market-based environment for the betterment of all participants in the coffee sector.

The ICO was set up in London in 1963 under the auspices of the United Nations because of the great economic importance of coffee. It administers the International Coffee Agreement (ICA), an important instrument for development cooperation.

The latest Agreement, the ICA 2007, entered into force on 2 February 2011. Copyright © ® COMUNICAFFE INTERNATIONAL: daily news about coffee, cocoa and tea.