561.333D3/7–644: Airgram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Brazil (Caffery)
Washington, July 6,
1944—4:50 p.m.
A–932. The following Memorandum of Understanding was signed on July 4 by Brazilian Minister of Finance Souza Costa and Assistant Secretary of State Acheson:
- 1.
- The Brazilian Government, through the National Coffee
Department of Brazil, will offer coffees for sale to the Office
of the Quartermaster General in the following quantities and in
the following manner:
- (a)
- 1,000,000 bags of Brazilian coffee.
- (b)
- This offer to be made and contract completed prior to July 15, 1944.
- (c)
- All such coffees to be sold through the regular channels of trade, i.e., the D.N.C. will sell through their exporters, who will sell in turn to United States importers. The importers will contact the Army, giving a full description of the coffee beans offered for sale.
- (d)
- All such coffees to be offered at prices which will permit resale in the United States at prices that are equivalent to Office of Price Administration price ceilings.
- (e)
- The coffees to be made available for shipment from the Port of Santos during the month of August, 1944.
- (f)
- The type and quality of coffees offered are to be suitable for the United States Army, and this is understood to mean strictly soft solid bean coffee, grading from Santos 2’s to Santos 5’s inclusive.
- 2.
- The Brazilian Government, through the National Coffee
Department of Brazil, will also assure the sale of coffees to
the United States market, in the following quantities and in the
following manner:
- (a)
- 500,000 bags for August shipment from the Port of Santos.
- (b)
- 1,000,000 bags for shipment from Brazilian ports each month from September through December 1944, inclusive.
- (c)
- All such coffees to be offered through the regular channels of trade.
- (d)
- All such coffees to be offered at prices which will permit resale in the United States at prices that are equivalent to Office of Price Administration price ceilings.
- (e)
- The type and quality of coffees offered are to be suitable for the United States market, and this is understood to mean strictly soft solid bean coffee, grading from Santos 2’s to Santos 5’s inclusive.
So long as sales and deliveries of coffee by Brazil are in accordance with the foregoing conditions, the United States delegate to the Inter-American Coffee Board will be instructed not to recommend or [Page 633] support a resolution providing for a further increase in the quotas under the Inter-American Coffee Agreement during the present quota year.
Hull