JOIN USState Chief Secretary S V Ranganath, on Friday, exhorted the big coffee growers and planters to take advantage of the prevalent buoyant market and offload atleast 10 to 20 per cent of their produce in the futures market.
Addressing the India Coffee Awards Nite, under the aegis of the Coffee Board, he said as the current prices are ruling quite high in the international markets, they should exercise the option of futures market and sell a percentage of their next year’s produce at today’s prices, lest there should be dramatic fall in prices at a later date. He also counselled them not to switch over to Robusta cultivation though it meant a safer option, for, he opined, continuing with Arabica cultivation was still worth considering and would pay off in the long run.
Coffee Board Chairman Jawaid Akthar, said coffee exports had touched an all time high of 2.94 lakh tonne in fiscal year 2011 resulting in revenue realisation of $714 million or Rs 3,300 crore. Likewise, he added, that the number of registered exporters too had gone up from 266 to 350 during the year. Nearly 14 companies were presented the 2010-11 export awards for coffee in various categories on the occasion.