According to highly placed sources in Cofei, the guidelines will certainly improve the quality of basic grades of coffee and will restrict the confusion among buyers and sellers on the quality aspects of the commodity acceptable at the bourse.

Plantation A variety, which represents around 60 per cent of the Arabica coffee grown in the country, should be clean garbled. The coffee can contain `PB' subject to a maximum of two per cent by weight. It may also contain `triage' subject to a maximum of 2 per cent by weight and the coffee mayinclude moisture subject to a maximum of 10 per cent with a tolerance of 0.5 per cent.

The basis for the futures contracts in unwashed robusta coffee transacted in Cofei shall be of the Robusta Cherry AB grade. "A minimum of 90 per cent by weight of the coffee shall stand on a sieve with round holes of 6 mm and a maximum of 1.5 per cent by weight of the coffee may pass through a sieve with round holes of 5.5 mm," said the sources. The robusta cherry AB may contain PB subject to a maximum of 2 per cent by weight and `triage' subject to a maximum of three per cent by weight.

The unwashed robusta coffee, which accounts for 65 per cent of the robusta coffee grown in the country, may have moisture subject to a maximum of 11 per cent with a tolerance of 0.5 per cent, sources said. Cofei, which commenced trading at the Bangalore Stock Exchange on June 19, has announced that all expenses incurred towards taking delivery of coffee from the certified warehouses including warehouse rent after the expiration of thedelivery period, packing, packing materials, and loading and transport of coffee would be to the buyers' account.