ABSTRACT
From 1963 to 1989 the world market in coffee operated in more or less orderly fashion under a remarkable international agreement amongst importing and exporting nations. Under the International Coffee Agreement (henceforth the ICA) each member exporting country is annually assigned a quota that places a limit upon the level of its exports to member importing countries. Akin in certain respects to an international cartel, the ICA is, nevertheless, almost of its own kind in international trade. It is the exemplar among the class of International Commodity Agreements, of which there have been five noteworthy examples in recent history. The other four—for cocoa, sugar, natural rubber, and tin—-enjoyed only modest success at best. The five have in common their inclusion of both exporting and importing countries as members. The coffee agreement alone managed to achieve anything like its original promise, functioning with one or two interruptions for over a quarter century.
