COLOMBIA'S COFFEE MARKETING TO BE MORE FLEXIBLE Colombia intends to improve the marketing of its coffee with the accent on more flexibility on setting export registration prices, finance minister Cesar Gaviria said. Speaking to reporters after announcing a lower export registration price, or reintegro, of 1.10 dlr per lb ex-dock New York, Gaviria said export mechanisms would be more agile. "In the first stage, we decided not only to lower the reintegro but also to adopt a flexible policy of reintegro that will allow private exporters to participate more actively in Colombia's coffee export policy," he said. Traders said this means the export registration price will change more often in a truer reflection of market trends. Gaviria said the measures merely responded to new market factors since a return to a system of International Coffee Organisation (ICO) export quotas may not occur in the short term. ICO talks last month in London failed to break a deadlock over re-introduction of export quotas, suspended in February 1986. Gaviria stressed that Colombia will not necessarily suffer from depressed prices because it can compensate lower prices with increased volume. "Colombia will continue to export its traditional amount of coffee, between 9.6 and 10 mln bags (of 60 kilos), and will do so without an agreement among producers," he said. He ruled out a much higher volume of exports, or up to 13.5 mln bags as mentioned in market circles, "because the idea is precisely not to disrupt the market." Colombia exported a record 11.5 mln bags in the 1985/86 coffee year which ended last September 30. Echoing Gaviria's words, Jorge Cardenas, manager of the national coffee growers' federation, said Colombia sought to adapt its coffee marketing policy to circumstances. "There is great expectation in the world for the policies that Brazil and Colombia will adopt. Ours is beginning to emerge and no agreement among producers is foreseeable in the immediate future," he told journalists. Trade sources in Rio today said Brazil's future export policy was unlikely to be revealed before the end of next week. Cardenas said a new ICO meeting could only take place when problems that hindered an agreement at the recent London talks have been resolved. Asked to comment on a Reuter report from Jakarta saying Indonesia hoped Colombia could use its contacts with Brazil to suggest a compromise on the quota issue, Cardenas said the Brazilian stand was quite clear. He said Brazil's current quota "reflects the reality of the market, allows for an orderly supply and satisfies demand," but added more clarity was needed to assess the criteria that determined it. Cardenas said lows registered immediately after the failure of the London talks were triggered by a widespread fear among dealers of an imminent price war and the belief that producers would go out and sell their coffee as quickly as possible, which did not happen.