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Bolivia set to build state-owned coffee plant in blow to Nescafe

BOLIVIA is set to build a new state-owned processing plant with local coffee producers to make instant coffee, President Luis Arce announced on Tuesday.

The new plant will be in the Yungas region of La Paz, the country’s main coffee-producing centre. 

Though the region produces high-quality ground coffee, the largest supplier remains Nescafe, which uses coffee beans from Brazil, where it has been accused of human rights abuses.

“Paradoxically, we are exporting high-quality coffee, recognised worldwide, winner of several awards in international markets; but even so, we continue to import instant coffee, Mr Arce said. “That is a contradiction in our economy.

“I have tested, like many, the quality of our coffee from Yungas, and it is necessary, with the Ministry of Productive Development, to work to have our own instant coffee plant for all Bolivians,” he said.

Bolivia has a number of state-owned plants in the food and drink industry. Under Mr Arce’s presidency the country has returned to the state-led development model built under former president Evo Morales.

A new report by the UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America & the Caribbean (Cepal) has forecast 5.1 per cent growth in Bolivia’s GDP for 2021, well above the 2.9 per cent average for Latin America.

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