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NEW ORLEANS (Dow Jones)--Current coffee prices, trading at multi-year highs,
are the result of financial speculation and are detrimental to the industry,
Starbucks Corp's (SBUX) chief executive Howard Schultz said Friday.
"I think it's artificial. I think financial speculation has really stepped
into the market," said Schultz, speaking at the National Coffee Association's
annual meeting in New Orleans.
Arabica coffee prices have prices have surged more than 44% over the past six
months on IntercontinentalExchange, fueled partly by bad weather in major
producing nations, such as Colombia, the top producer of mild washed arabica
beans.
On Wednesday, Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT) raised its U.S. prices 20% per pound
equivalent for its Maxwell House and Yuban ground coffees. Last month, J.M.
Smucker (SJM) raised prices by 10% for many of its coffee brands.
But Schultz said the increases could turn consumers off: "I think, in the
long term, we as an industry will suffer as the consumer is not going to
respond positively to [increased] coffee prices."
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