COCOA COUNCIL HEAD TO PRESENT BUFFER COMPROMISE International Cocoa Organization, ICCO, council chairman Denis Bra Kanon will present a compromise proposal on buffer stock rules to producer and consumer delegates either later today or tomorrow morning, delegates said. Bra Kanon held private bilateral consultations with major producers and consumers this morning to resolve outstanding differences, mostly on the issues of how much non-member cocoa the buffer stock can purchase and price differentials for different varieties. Delegates were fairly confident the differences could be worked out in time to reach agreement tomorrow. Some consuming member nations, including Britain and Belgium, favour the buffer stock buying more than 10 pct non-member cocoa, delegates have said. The consumers argue that buying cheaper, lower quality non-member cocoas, particularly Malaysian, will most effectively support prices because that low quality cocoa is currently pressuring the market. Producers, meanwhile, say non-member cocoa should make up at most a very small percentage of the buffer. They say Malaysia should not be able to benefit from the ICCO unless it is a member, and if the buffer stock bought Malaysian cocoa Malaysia would have no incentive to join, delegates said. As to differentials, Ghana apparently wanted a higher differential for its cocoa than is outlined in the most recent proposal, so it would have a better chance of having its cocoa bought for the buffer stock, producer delegates said. Some consumers wanted differentials to be adjusted in a way that would not promote buffer stock purchases of the more expensive cocoas, such as Ghanaian and Brazilian, they said. Other technical points need to be sorted out, including limits on how much cocoa the buffer stock manager can buy in nearby, intermediate and forward positions and the consequent effect on prices in the various deliveries, delegates said.