IVORY COAST SAYS COFFEE PRICE FALL SHORT-LIVED Ivory Coast today predicted that the present coffee price crash recorded after the collapse of the recent International Coffee Organisation (ICO) meeting in London would not last long. Commenting on Monday's failure by producer and consumer nations to agree on new export quotas needed to tighten an oversupplied coffee market, Ivorian Agriculture Minister Denis Bra Kanon told reporters that traders would eventually be obliged to restore their positions. "I am convinced the market is going to reverse by April," he told a news conference here at his return from the failed London talks. Robusta coffee beans for May delivery ended the day in London down about 50 sterling at 1,265 sterling a tonne, the lowest since 1982. Bra Kanon estimated at at least 535 billion CFA francs (1.76 billion dlrs) the overall loss in revenues earned by Ivory Coast from all its commodities exports this year if the slide on the world markets continues. He disclosed that his country - the world's biggest cocoa producer and the third largest for coffee -- would spearhead an African initiative to reach a compromise formula by the end of next month. Ivory Coast has been chosen by the Abidjan-based Inter-African Coffee Organisation (IACO) to speak on behalf of the continent's 25 producer nations at the London talks. "An initiative from IACO is likely very soon," he said without elaborating. "Following the London collapse, we have immediately embarked on a concertation course to avoid breaking an already fragile market," he said. Questioned by journalists, the minister said President Felix Houphouet-Boigny estimated for the moment that his government would not be forced to reduce the price guaranteed by the state to Ivorian coffee-growers for the current season. Last year, the West African nation announced that the coffee producer price would stay at 200 CFA francs (65 cents) per kilo. Bra Kanon said that his country would strive to diversify its agricultural production to avoid beeing too dependent from world market fluctuation. A communique read over the state-run television tonight said that during today's weekly cabinet meeting, the veteran Ivorian leader reaffirmed "his faith in Ivory Coast's bright (economic) future" despite the commodities price slide. The Agriculture Minister also announced the government decided to earmark a sum of 7.5 billion CFA francs (24.71 mln dlrs) to support the country's small farmers. Financially-strapped Ivory Coast, long regarded as one of Africa's showpiece economies, is going through difficult times following the sharp slump in the world price of cocoa and coffee. Ivory Coast's real gross domestic product is expected to grow only one pct this year compared to five pct in 1986, according to a recent Finance Ministry estimate.