"The ACPC has in principle accepted to fix our export quota at three million bags (180,000 tonnes)," Bose Mandanna, vice chairman of the state-run board, told Reuters on the sidelines of a growers' conference in the southern Indian city of Bangalore.

"This will lead to the revision of the ACPC's global export quota for producing countries to 53 million bags from the earlier 50 million bags," he said.

India in September became the 14th member to join the London-based ACPC which groups the world's leading coffee producing countries.

ACPC in July set export targets of 50 million bags for 1999/2000 and 2000/01 (October-September) for its 13 members as an attempt to support global prices for arabicas and robustas.

India produces about four percent of theworld's coffee output and exports 75 per cent of its production.

The country is forecast to produce an all-time high crop of 282,000 tonnes during 1999/2000 (October-September) and traders have said that exports will be in excess of 225,000 tonnes.

Mandanna, who represented India at the ACPC meeting in September when the country was formally admitted into the organisation, said that ACPC would include India's three million bags to its quota after reducing the quota of non-ACPC members.

"Non-members of ACPC such as Mexico, Vietnam and India till it joined the body, had been set an export quota of 23 million bags," Mandanna said."Now that quota will come down to 20 million bags and the ACPC members' quota will go up to 53 million bags," he said.

Mandanna said Indian growers had however no reason to worry as they were not compelled to stick to the ACPC quota. "The quotas will come into force only when there is oversupply in the market and prices are hit...in normal times we have nothing to worry."