Coffee Farmers May Need 3 Years to Increase Supply, Lingle Says

Coffee farmers may need two or three years to boost production, according to Ted Lingle, co-founder of the Coffee Quality Institute in Long Beach, California.

The increase will lead to lower prices, Lingle said in an interview at a coffee conference today in Arusha in northern Tanzania. Arabica coffee prices have jumped 8.8 percent this year because of crop damage in producing countries such as Colombia.

Prices will be supported this year with producer stockpiles at a record low of 13 million bags, Jose Sette, executive director of the International Coffee Organization, said.

“Until the end of this year the supply situation will remain tight and I don’t see much space for prices to go down significantly,” Sette said.

Producer stockpiles dropped after Colombia’s crop declined to 8 million bags, Sette said. Production was 12.5 million bags in 2007-08, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A bag of coffee weighs 132 pounds (60 kilograms).

(Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-17/coffee-farmers-may-need-3-years-to-increase-supply-lingle-says.html)