561.333D3/10–146
Minutes of Meeting of the Inter-American Coffee Board, by the Chairman of the Board (Cale)
The Inter-American Coffee Board met at its offices at 2400 Sixteenth Street, N.W., at 10:30 a.m., October 1, 1946, and considered the following matters:
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5. Prices. The Guatemalan Delegate, Mr. López-Herrarte, expressed his feeling that the Board should go on record as supporting the action being taken by the U.S. Coffee Industry in their efforts to decontrol coffee prices. The Brazilian Alternate Delegate, Mr. Penteado, agreed that this should be done and stated that the evils which have been in existence during the past have developed again despite the new price ceilings announced by the U.S. Government. These evils are up-grading and short-weighting. He said that the psychological effect of the ceilings on coffee is to create a feeling of short supply while actually coffee production is more than sufficient to supply the American and the small European demand. Mr. Braddock advised that the State Department had formerly favored decontrol, but that with the new price ceilings the Department did not have the same argument for decontrol as in the past. Mr. López-Herrarte, however, insisted that the Board request Mr. Cale, as Chairman of the Board and not as a member of the Department, be given the decontrol problem. It was suggested that he find out in what way the Board can help as an international organization to bring about the decontrol of coffee prices. The Board agreed to leave the matter of price decontrol entirely in the hands of the Chairman of the Board.
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