ICO urges US to rejoin to help face coffee crisis

Reuters
By James Macharia

NAIROBI, Feb 19 (Reuters) - The International Coffee Organization (ICO) renewed an appeal on Thursday to top consumer the United States to rejoin and help fight a price slump hurting producers.

The London-based ICO, with 55 producing and consuming member countries, is the world's top coffee authority, but its effectiveness has been limited without U.S. backing. Washington left the ICO in 1992 in opposition to the ICO quota system, saying the practice went against the concept of a free market.

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