Bogota, Mar. 27 - Colombia's National Federation of Coffee Growers, or Fedecafe, said Thursday that shipments of coffee from the Caribbean port of Santa Marta have been suspended following the discovery of 100 kilos of cocaine in a cargo of coffee bound for Antwerp, Belgium.
The coffee belonged to Fedecafe itself, which directly exports approximately 20% of Colombia's coffee, according to its figures.
Private exporters are unaffected by the suspension.
"We have no authority to stop private exporters from using the port," Fedecafe General Manager Gabriel Silva told reporters in Bogota, but added that the federation would not export "a single bag more of coffee" via Santa Marta until the incident had been properly investigated and measures had been taken to ensure that the incident is not repeated.
In the 2006-07 crop year, 2.4% of Colombia's coffee exports left via Santa Marta, 51% from the Caribbean port of Cartagena, and 46% from the Pacific Port of Buenaventura, according to Fedecafe figures.
Colombia is the world's largest producer of mild washed arabica coffee, with annual output of between 11 million and 12 million bags in recent years, and is the third-largest producer overall after Brazil and Vietnam.