International Coffee Organization (ICO)

The International Coffee Organization was established in 1963 when the first International Coffee Agreement (ICA) entered into force in 1962 for a period of five years, and it has continued to operate under successive Agreements negotiated since then. These include the ICA 1968 (and its two extensions), the ICA 1976 (with one extension), 1983 (and its four extensions), the 1994 Agreement (with one extension) and the 2001 Agreement (with three extensions). The latest Agreement, the ICA 2007, was adopted by the Council in September 2007 and entered into force definitively on 2 February 2011.

Mission

The International Coffee Organization (ICO) is the main intergovernmental organization for coffee, bringing together exporting and importing Governments to tackle the challenges facing the world coffee sector through international cooperation. Its Member Governments represent 98% of world coffee production and 67% of world consumption.

The ICO’s mission is to strengthen the global coffee sector and promote its sustainable expansion in a market-based environment for the betterment of all participants in the coffee sector.

It makes a practical contribution to the development of a sustainable world coffee sector and to reducing poverty in developing countries by:

enabling governments and the private sector to exchange views on coffee matters, market conditions and trends, and coordinate policies at high-level meetings

developing and seeking finance for projects that benefit the world coffee economy

promoting coffee quality through a Coffee Quality-Improvement Programme

promoting market transparency by providing a wide range of statistics on the world coffee sector

developing coffee consumption and markets for coffee through innovative market development activities

encouraging the development of strategies to enhance the capacity of local communities and small-scale farmers

promoting training and information programmes to assist the transfer of technology relevant to coffee

facilitating information on financial tools and services to assist producers

providing objective and comprehensive economic, technical and scientific information on the world coffee sector.

The ICO was set up in London in 1963 under the auspices of the United Nations because of the great economic importance of coffee. It administers the International Coffee Agreement (ICA), an important instrument for development cooperation. The latest Agreement, the ICA 2007, entered into force on 2 February 2011.

Members: