BBC News Online: World: Americas

Coffee producers move to boost prices

Coffee producers from Colombia, Mexico and central America have decided to start destroying more than a million bags of low-grade coffee in a bid to boost quality and raise ailing prices.

In a meeting in the Costa Rican capital, San Jose, the coffee-producing countries agreed to begin implementing the plan in October.

The Secretary- General of the 28-member Association of Coffee- Producing Countries, Roberio Silva, said he hoped the voluntary programme could eventually be adopted by all members of the group, in order to have an even bigger impact.

Coffee prices have fallen considerably in the past two years.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service