Bogota, Nov. 13 - Global coffee giant Colombia is studying a plan to boost output by up to 33 percent over five years to capitalize on solid global demand, the head of the country's coffee export association said on Tuesday.
The country that brought beans personified by Juan Valdez and his mule Conchita to kitchens around the world, will look at a plan this week to boost output to 16 million 60-kilogram bags from about 12 million this year.
The idea, proposed last year by the government in a bid to meet rising demand, will be analyzed at a meeting of the National Association of Colombian Coffee Exporters, or Asoexport, being held Tuesday and Wednesday in Cartagena.
"If we improve our per-hectare production, which is not the best in the world, we could produce 16 million sacks in the areas that are now cultivated," association president Jorge Enrique Lozano told Reuters in a telephone interview.
The plan would involve replacing some of the oldest coffee plants and pruning back others to encourage new flowering.
Half of Colombia's 900,000 hectares under coffee cultivation have an average age of around 22 years. Coffee plants reach their best yield potential at 10 years.
"There is a margin for us to increase production and avoid losing participation in the market," Lozano added.
But, he said, "We will have to be careful not to unbalance the situation of supply and demand, in which world consumption is at 120 million bags per year and growing by 1.5 percent per year."
Colombia is the world's third biggest coffee producer after Brazil and Vietnam.
The average price of Colombian coffee was $1.32 per pound on Monday, according to the International Coffee Organization.
Prices for Arabica beans, like the ones Colombia produces, are being sustained in New York amid concerns about a possible drought in Brazil and after a lackluster crop in the world's largest producer last year.
Lozano said he expects international prices to remain stable over the short term as long as other producing countries do not dramatically increase harvests.
Coffee is Colombia's third-largest export product after oil and coal. Over a half million Colombian families depend on the business for their livelihoods.
Growers' profits have been hit by the falling value of the U.S. dollar, which has weakened 8.62 percent against the Colombian peso this year.
But the country's economy is booming thanks mainly to a crackdown on drug-running leftist rebels, which has cut crime and spurred investment.