561.333D3/1639
The Secretary of State to the Chairman of the Inter-American Coffee Board (Collado)
The Secretary of State presents his compliments to the Chairman of the Inter-American Coffee Board and refers to the Board’s communication of January 10, 1944 in regard to problems arising from the reduced volume of trading in coffee occurring after the middle of November 1943.
In view of the request contained in the communication to the effect that the competent authorities of the United States Government be asked to consider liberalizing the issuance of coffee import licenses with a view to the prompt utilization of all tonnage available for the movement of coffee, the Department arranged for representatives of the agencies primarily concerned with this matter to discuss it with the Board at the Board’s meeting of January 12, 1944. It is the understanding of the Secretary of State that the aforementioned representatives pointed out at the meeting that coffee import licensing had already been liberalized to a considerable degree and that, although the outlook for shipping was not sufficiently certain to permit coffee to be removed completely from control under the M–63 Order of the War Production Board, this step would be taken as soon as possible. The Board may be assured therefore that the M–63 Order as it applies to coffee will be administered in as liberal a manner as possible so long as it is necessary to allocate shipping for the transportation of coffee, and that coffee will be removed from control under the Order as soon as the exigencies of war-time transportation permit.