960428

Brazil rejects

auctions of

coffee stocks

BRASILIA: The Brazilian government has rejected a private sector proposal to auction up to 1.8 million sacks of government coffee stocks from April through to June, said a top Ministry of Industry and Commerce official.

Luiz Milton Veloso Costa, head of the primary commodities department, said the National Treasury had rejected the proposal because the coffee industry's demands for financing terms were considered too generous on Friday.

"The government today rejected a proposal from the Brazilian Coffee Committee (CBC) to liberate for auction 1.8 million sacks from government stocks up till June," Costa said.

The CBC had asked for buyers to be allowed to finance up to 60 percent of their purchases for two years at an annual interest rate of six percent.

Costa told reporters Tuesday's sector-wide auction of just over 265,000 sacks of coffee would run as planned.-Reuter