COLOMBIA COFFEE EXPORTERS BELIEVE IN PRAGMATISM Private coffee exporters say Colombia's more pragmatic coffee marketing policy will ensure that the country does not suffer excessively from current depressed prices and erratic market conditions. Gilberto Arango, president of the exporters' association, said in an interview that Colombia, the world's second largest producer, was in a position to withstand a prolonged absence of International Coffee Organization (ICO) export quotas. "Colombia is one of the countries that will benefit most from this situation," he said. Recent ICO talks in London failed to break a deadlock over re-introduction of export quotas, suspended in February 1986, and no date has been set for a new meeting on the issue. Arango said that government measures adopted here last week, including a lower export registration price, indicated a major change but also disclosed a welcome pragmatism. "This is the start of a new era in Colombia because world market conditions are also new," he said. The government lowered local taxes for exporters and said the export registration price, or reintegro, will be changed more often in order to closely reflect market trends. Arango said an illustration of Colombia's new attitude was the decision on Friday to open export registrations for an unlimited amount. But he added it did not imply the country would begin heavy selling of coffee. "Our marketing policy is to sell without haste but consistently. No targets for volume will be set. We will react to market factors adequately and Colombia has no intention of giving its coffee away." Colombia's past records should be the basis for upcoming exports, he said. "We will certainly not export seven mln (60-kilo) bags but neither are we going to sell like mad. The trade knows full well what Colombia's export potential is," he said. Colombia, with stockpiles standing at about 10 mln bags, exported a record 11.5 mln bags in the 1985/86 coffee year which ended last September, and 11.3 mln in calendar 1986. Arango did not want to commit himself on export predictions but said that output for the 1986/87 coffee year would not exceed 10.5 mln bags, compared with 12 mln forecast by the National Coffee Growers' Federation and 12.5 mln by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a figure he said was "ridiculous." He said ageing plantations and rust, in particular in the number one producing province of Antioquia, meant output was likely to fall but that nationwide estimates were rare and oscillated between 9.5 mln and 11.5 mln bags. On the failure of the recent ICO talks, Arango said Colombia understandably felt frustrated at not having managed to force a compromise. Jorge Cardenas, manager of the national federation and head of his nation's delegation in London, has blamed the intransigence of some big countries, without naming them. However, Arango, like Colombian Finance Minister Cesar Gaviria last week, was more explicit and said the United States would undoubtedly be under great political pressure in coming weeks to revise its policy. "Washington will have to take into account that for many countries, and some of its allies for instance in Central America, a sharp fall in coffee export revenue would have far-reaching political and economic consequences." Arango ruled out a fresh Colombian initiative on export quotas saying producers had now to show a common resolve which could emerge from continuous contacts.