International Coffee Organization

Summary of International Coffee Organization

See the International Commodity Organization.

(Main Author: William J. Miller)

International Coffee Organization (ICO) in relation with International Trade

In the context of trade organizations, Christopher Mark (1993) provided the following definition of International Coffee Organization (ICO): An international commodity organization (Sec. I) founded in 1963. The ICO became the administrative agency of the International Coffee Agreement (ICA) of 1976, a commodity agreement (Sec. I) among coffee- producing and consuming countries designed to control the amount of coffee produced and sold internationally. The ICO functions through the International Coffee Council, which consists of all members and meets twice a year; it is based in London. Exporting members are Angola, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Cote d’lvoire, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Venezuela, Zambia, Zaire, and Zimbabwe. Importing members are Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, the European Community , Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The ICA’s rigid export quota system was abandoned in 1989 after widespread discounting to non-members. Since then, members have approved three resolutions extending the Agreement without price-support provisions; the current ICA expires at the end of September 1993. In the negotiations on a new International Coffee Agreement, which began in June 1992, exporting members have sought to give the Council power to periodically change the quota system, while importing members prefer a market-oriented agreement. In August 1993, the major coffee producing countries announced plans to form a producer cartel to be known as the Association of Coffee Producing Countries.