Return to Story Page
To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu

Coffee outlook may continue to be gloomy

KR Ravindra

July 26: Indian coffee has a mere three per cent presence in the international coffee production scenario. This compares all the more poorly when one looks at the Brazilian presence of 35 per cent in the world market.

In India, the poor coffee production is a reflection of the way marketing has been managed all these decades. The plight of small planters adds to the gloom.

The only section that benefited by coffee business in the country is the middlemen who exploited small planters over the years.

Now that the Coffee Board has all but closed shop, large planters seemed to have been thanking their stars because they are no more at the mercy of mandarins in Delhi or Bangalore.

But that is only one side of the coin, the other side being more challenging considering the fate of the commodity because of its global dimensions. However, of late, observers of the coffee-growing districts in Karnataka - which accounts for 70 per cent of Indian coffee production with Kerala and Tamil Nadu sharing the rest of July 26: Indian coffee has a mere three per cent presence in the international coffee production scenario. This compares all the more poorly when one looks at the Brazilian presence of 35 per cent in the world market.

In India, the poor coffee production is a reflection of the way marketing has been managed all these decades. The plight of small planters adds to the gloom.

The only section that benefited by coffee business in the country is the middlemen who exploited small planters over the years.

Now that the Coffee Board has all but closed shop, large planters seemed to have been thanking their stars because they are no more at the mercy of mandarins in Delhi or Bangalore.

But that is only one side of the coin, the other side being more challenging considering the fate of the commodity because of its global dimensions. However, of late, observers of the coffee-growing districts in Karnataka - which accounts for 70 per cent of Indian coffee production with Kerala and Tamil Nadu sharing the rest ofthe production - predict gloom for the 1998-99 season.

They have apprehension on the following counts: