Mumbai - Indian coffee prices for the week ended Thursday were mostly down as producers offload stocks ahead of new crop arrival, while export demand remained poor, traders and market participants said. Thursday, offers for robusta cherry AB were quoted at USD1,980 a metric ton compared with USD2,025/ton last week, free-on-board Cochin port for December shipment, while arabica plantation grade A was offered at USD2,950/ton, unchanged last week. "As the new crop of coffee will start arriving in the market soon, producers are trying to get rid of their old stocks," said a trader based in the southern province of Bangalore. Arabica arrivals begin at the end of December, while robusta is mostly harvested in February. "However, rains and mostly cloudy weather in some parts of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are hampering drying of the coffee, and therefore could delay arrival of the new crop by a week," said the Bangalore-based trader. India's 2007 coffee output this crop year is likely to fall seven per cent to 280,000 tons on unfavorable weather conditions. Export demand is mostly dull currently. However, some export orders are there for the new crop for shipment in January, another trader said. "Exports (in 2007) are expected to fall 22% to 210,000 tons since around 70,000 tons of coffee will be required for domestic consumption," said Harish Bijoor, member of the Indian Coffee Board, at an industry conference in Vietnam. India's marketing year for coffee runs from January to December. The latest data from the Coffee Board show India has exported 209,442 metric tons of coffee so far in 2007, down from 237,809 tons a year earlier.

[Source: Dow Jones Newswire]