Rau new Executive Board Chairman of Intl Coffee Organisation

London, Sept 27 (PTI) Indian Coffee Board head, G V
Krishna Rau, has been unanimously elected Chairman of the
Executive Board of the International Coffee Organisation for
2008-09.

Rau, who takes over his new role on October one, succeeds
David Brooks of the US. The election for the post was held
here Friday night.
One of the major tasks for Rau will be to oversee the
transition from the International Coffee Agreement of 2001 to
the 2007 Agreement.
Under the 2007 International Coffee Agreement, the
European Union comprising of 27 countries would be treated as
one member. Coffee exporting members, mostly from developing
countries, hold 1,000 votes and the importing members, mostly
from developed countries, hold 1,000 votes.
Rau told newsmen that over five lakh people worked on
coffee estates world over and 99 percent of the growers were
small growers.
India exported 27 percent of its coffee production to
Italy and 17 per cent to Russia and the domestic consumption
accounted for 30 percent - about 90,000 tonnes. Out of an
annual production of 290,000 tonnes of coffee, the country
exported nearly two lakh tonnes and imported 20,000 tonnes.
Rau, who has been Chairman of the Indian Coffee Board
since May 18, 2005, was born in an agriculturist family in
Guntur District of Andhra Pradesh. He obtained his post
graduation in Geology from Osmania University and worked as
Geologist in the Geological Survey of India from 1978 till
joining the Indian Administrative Service in 1982 in the
Karnataka Cadre.
Before joining the Coffee Board as its Chairman, Rau was
serving as the Chairman and Managing Director of Mysore Paper
Mills Ltd, Government of Karnataka.