NEW YORK雜誌−人們現在購買咖啡必須花費更多燃料成本。
咖啡價格已經超越了去年上漲的汽油價格。根據勞工局資料：四月份一磅罐裝研磨咖啡要價5.10美元，比一年前的3.64美元漲了40%。相較之下，星期二1加侖的一般汽油要價3.83美元，比一年前漲了37%。
雖然燃料價格預期將穩定下來，咖啡可能會持續上漲一段時間，因為咖啡公司所購買的未烘焙咖啡豆價格仍在「迅速」攀升。星期二，咖啡期貨價格為每磅2.61美元，差不多是去年同期的一倍。
J.M. Smucker公司是雜貨店販售的stalwart Folgers以及Dunkin' Donuts咖啡包裝的製造商，於星期二表示，該公司正在調漲他們大部份的美國咖啡產品價格11%，這是一年內的第四度上漲。Kraft食品公司，Peet's Coffee和Tea Inc.和Green Mountain Coffee Roasters公司最近也各自調漲了他們的咖啡價格。
週二，星巴克公司也說，他們店內的包裝咖啡也要漲價，在美國平均漲17%，在加拿大平均漲6%。這是繼2009年漲了4%後的進一步上漲。該公司在雜貨店和其他零售商販售的包裝咖啡於三月份也漲過價。
但是飲料對許多人而言仍然不可或缺。
Eboney和Tyson Owens說他們已注意到咖啡變更貴了。這對情侶並不打算放棄不喝，反之他們會買很多不同品牌的咖啡看看哪家最便宜，其中最愛的四家品牌有−星巴克、Dunkin’ Donuts、Godiva和Seattle’s Best。
「我發誓我是個不折不扣的星巴克迷。」32歲的Eboney Owens在俄勒岡州波特蘭市逛雜貨店的途中說道。
然而，如果有其他咖啡在大特賣或是有優惠券的話，她也會改買別的。
「但是我們不至於濫竽充數啦。」31歲的Tyson Owens補充道。
根據國際咖啡組織，去年的咖啡收成整體而言成長8%，這主要受助於埃塞俄比亞，象牙海岸和其他國家旺盛的供應。但是今年，一些主要出口國包括印尼，受乾旱、水災或其他惡劣天氣所苦導致收成量減少，並影響了價格。中國的經濟成長也是咖啡價格上漲的因素之一，中國地區的行動工作人口刺激咖啡需求量上升。
經濟學家表示，不像其他許多非特定的商品，咖啡在經濟衰退中損失通常相對較小。這是因為當荷包吃緊時，人們可能會購買較便宜的咖啡品牌，但他們不會完全放棄咖啡。根據國際咖啡組織數字：2008年經濟蕭條時，美國人共消費2,170萬包的60公斤袋裝咖啡，相當於將近29億磅的咖啡，比前年的21萬包還多。
從更廣的範圍來看，各類食物、衣服、尿布和電池等家用必需品的價格都在上漲，咖啡是其中一部分。2008年，食品價格飆漲5.5%，然後2009年減緩為1.8%，2010年為0.8%，這是因為肉類和作物價格回穩。但是根據聯合國糧食和農業組織資料顯示，近幾個月的石油和糧食價格飆升，使全球糧食價格達到20年來的最高點。
根據勞工部的數據顯示，在美國，三月份的食品價格上漲0.8%，這是近三年來最大的單月漲幅。到了四月漲幅減緩至0.4%。
美國農業部經濟學家Ricky Volpe指出，食品價格膨脹程度明顯高於70年代，當時年同比平均漲幅為8.1%。然而食品價格上漲程度仍遠低於預期。在最近一季，根據FactSet調查，89%的消費性產品製造商表示，他們已經調漲了部份產品價格或有調漲計畫。
主要銷售Maison du Café、L'Or and Café Pilao的Sara Lee公司表示，今年冬季咖啡生豆成本上升導致其提高價格。主要銷售麥斯威爾咖啡的卡夫食品公司表示今年冬天徵收價格廣泛上漲，咖啡價格也隨之上漲。Peet's Coffee and Tea公司隨著原物料成本上漲，最近已經兩度調高了零售價格。
星巴克週二表示，他們已經持續監控咖啡生豆成本、燃料和其他營運成本，並根據需要作出價格調整。一袋1磅的咖啡目前的商店售價在9.95美元到13.95美元之間。若將最新的價格變動列入計算，價格會躍升至每磅11.95美元〜14.95美元之間。
Smucker表示，其最新的價格上漲包括的Smucker的Millstone和Folgers美味精選咖啡組合包裝。至於其Dunkin' Donuts品牌，只有在雜貨店、倶樂部、保健食品店和綜合量販店出售的袋裝咖啡受到漲價影響。在Dunkin甜甜圈店鋪內沒有販售Smucker商品。
該公司亦在2010年二月調漲咖啡價格10%、2010年八月調漲9%，去年五月漲4%。
成本上漲並未阻止Smuck在美國拓展咖啡商品種類。該公司上週宣布以3.6億美元現金購買了私人Rowland咖啡烘焙公司。Rowland總部設在邁阿密，銷售Cafe Bustelo和Cafe Pilon，主要銷往美國東北部和南部佛羅里達州，以拉丁美洲裔為目標顧客。Rowland在美國是濃縮咖啡的領先生產商。
＊原文：
NEW YORK - People are paying more to fuel up these days - on coffee.
Coffee price increases have outpaced even the hike in gasoline prices the past year. A one-pound can of ground coffee sold for $5.10 in April, up 40 percent from $3.64 the year before, according to the Department of Labor. By comparison, a gallon of regular gasoline cost $3.83 on average on Tuesday, up 37 percent from a year earlier.
And while fuel prices are expected to stabilize, coffee increases could continue for some time because the prices that coffee companies pay for unroasted beans are still climbing ― fast. Coffee futures were trading for $2.61 per pound Tuesday, roughly double a year earlier.
J.M. Smucker Co., the maker of grocery store stalwart Folgers and of packaged varieties of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, said Tuesday that it is raising prices of most of its U.S. coffee products by 11 percent, its fourth increase in a year. Kraft Foods Inc., Peet’s Coffee and Tea Inc. and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. have also recently hiked their prices for coffee.
Starbucks Corp. also said Tuesday that it will raise prices on packaged coffee in its stores by an average of 17 percent in the U.S. and 6 percent in Canada. That follows a 4 percent increase in 2009. The company also raised prices in March for its packaged coffee sold in grocery stores and at other retailers.
But the drink remains essential to many.
Eboney and Tyson Owens say they’ve noticed higher coffee prices. The couple aren’t about to give up their buzz, but they’re buying different brands depending on what costs least among their top four preferred brands ― Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, Godiva and Seattle’s Best.
“I’m a Starbucks fan, I swear by it,” Eboney Owens, 32, said during a recent grocery trip in Portland, Ore.
However, if something else is on sale or has a coupon available, she’ll switch.
“We won’t go bottom of the barrel, though,” Tyson Owens, 31, added.
Overall coffee crops increased 8 percent last year, according to the International Coffee Organization, helped by strong supplies from Ethiopia, the Ivory Coast and other countries. But this year, some major exporters, including Indonesia, are suffering from smaller crops because of drought, flooding or other inclement weather, which is affecting prices. The rise in coffee prices also has roots in the economic growth of China, where an upwardly mobile workforce is fueling demand.
Unlike many other discretionary items, coffee usually emerges from a recession relatively unscathed, economists say. That’s because when money is tight, people may buy cheaper brands of coffee, but they won’t give it up completely. Americans consumed 21.7 million 60-kilogram bags of coffee in 2008, during the depths of the recession, up from 21 million the year before, according to the ICO. That’s nearly 2.9 billion pounds of coffee.
Coffee is part of a bigger story about rising prices for household staples as diverse as food, clothing, diapers and batteries. Food prices soared 5.5 percent in 2008, then ticked up a slower 1.8 percent in 2009 and 0.8 percent in 2010 as meat and produce prices steadied. But in recent months oil and grain prices have soared, sending global food prices to their highest point in 20 years, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.
Labor Department data showed that food prices in the U.S. increased 0.8 percent in March, the largest monthly increase in nearly three years. The pace slowed to a 0.4 percent increase in April.
U.S. Department of Agriculture economist Ricky Volpe notes that food price inflation was much higher in the ‘70s, when year-over-year increases averaged 8.1 percent. While food price increases are far below that, more are expected. In the most recent quarter, 89 percent of consumer product makers tracked by FactSet said they have raised some prices or have plans to do so.
Sara Lee Corp., which sells Maison du Café, L’Or and Café Pilao, said this winter that rising green coffee costs led it to raise its prices. Kraft, which sells Maxwell House coffee, cited rising coffee prices in a broad price hike it levied this winter. Peet’s Coffee and Tea Inc. has raised its retail prices twice recently in response to raw material costs.
Starbucks said Tuesday that it has been continually monitoring the costs of green coffee, fuel and other operational costs and has made price adjustments as needed. A one-pound bag of coffee currently goes for $9.95 to $13.95 in stores. After it puts the latest price changes in place, the price will jump to between $11.95 and $14.95 a pound.
Smucker said that its latest price increase includes Smucker’s Millstone and Folgers Gourmet Selections packaged coffees. For the Dunkin’ Donuts brand, the increase affects only packaged coffee sold in grocery, club, drug and general-merchandise stores. Items sold at Dunkin’ Donuts shops are not Smucker products.
The company also raised coffee prices by 10 percent in February, 9 percent in August 2010 and 4 percent last May.
The cost increases haven’t deterred Smucker from expanding its U.S. coffee portfolio. It announced last week that it purchased privately held Rowland Coffee Roasters Inc. for $360 million in cash. Rowland, based in Miami, sells Cafe Bustelo and Cafe Pilon, which are sold primarily in the Northeastern U.S. and South Florida and target Latino shoppers. Rowland is a leading producer of espresso coffee in the U.S.
