Coffee imports in Venezuela will be four times more expensive

[Bacchus39]

http://english.eluniversal.com/2011/05/17/coffee-imports-in-venezuela-will-be-four-times-more-expensive.shtml

As international coffee prices have risen to a 15-year high, the amount that local producers receive for the sale of the product is insufficient to cover production costs.

A coffee quintal in the domestic market has a regulated price of VEB 747 (USD 173.72, at the official exchange rate of USD 4.30 per VEB) while the price in the international market has hit USD 300 (VEB 1,290). In Colombia, the price of the Venezuelan quintal of coffee fluctuates between VEB 2,000 and 3,000 (USD 465.11 to USD 697.67), at the official exchange rate.

Vicente Pérez, a director at the National Confederation of Agricultural Producers (Fedeagro), said that this disparity in the price of coffee has discouraged production and has led to disinvestment. As a result, coffee yield has been undermined year after year and dependence on imports is increasing.

According to coffee industry's reports, the Venezuelan government imported last year 680,000 coffee quintals, for a total of USD 102 million, which represented an expenditure of VEB 265 million at the official exchange rate of VEB 2,60 per US dollar.

[naaman fletcher]

1. socialism at its best. nt