In a letter to the commerce ministry, Coffee Board chairman SV Ranganath said enough robusta coffee was available in the country for exports and domestic consumption. Ranganath's letter to the commerce ministry follows a plea by Bangalore-based Coffee Exporters Association, All India Pool Sale Dealers Association and Coimbatore-based All India Coffee Merchants Association to allow import of Indonesian robusta coffee under open general license to tide over the tight supply position. The associations had told the Coffee Board that in view of tight supply no robusta coffee was available for export.

They said till august 27, India exported 1.38 lakh tonnes of robustas, while 14,000 tonnes was consumed domestically.

With a carry forward stock of 29,000 from last season (December 1996-November 1997), and production of 1.43 lakh tonnes, only 2,000 tonneswould be left for exports after taking into consideration the 10,000 tonnes required for consumption upto December 31, they said. Robustas make up around 52 per cent of India's total coffee production, estimated to be 2.42 lakh tonnes this season. Ranganath, quoting the figures given by those pleading for allowing imports, said the statistics themselves spoke of enough availability and hence, there was no need for imports.

Industry sources said export contracts to the tune of 5,000 tonnes had been cancelled in view of non-availability of robusta coffee. Reports from bangalore say that coffee growers were holding on to stocks in expectations of higher prices. Global coffee prices have been ruling low during the last three months and India's only auctions held by the indian Coffee Traders Association (ICTA) at Bangalore had witnessed large scale withdrawals in view of differences between buyers and sellers over prices.

Industry sources said exporters had also stopped booking new orders for rest of theseason, ending November this year.

Further cancellation of robusta exports were likely and this would lead to buyer branding India as an unreliable supplier, thus leading to price discount in future, they say. They said the situation could be worse in the instant coffee sector where consumers used to Indian coffee would be compelled to taste other origins. There was a fear that these markets might be lost forever, they said. The situation this year is in contrast to last year when government threatened to allow coffee imports to rein in prices.

Coffee prices touched a record Rs 200 a kg last year.