Coffee Information

Coffee is a commodity


At Starbucks they obviously need coffee. To insure that they get the coffee at a good price, Starbucks has chosen to buy the coffee fields, rather than pay an advanced contract price for the coffee beans. Just think it's Starbucks was buying coffee from Cuba, and that hurricane that came through Cuba two months ago destroyed all the coffee beans, in this case Starbucks cannot sell you your Latte. That would really piss you off. Starbucks knows that if they piss you off; you may never come back again. Also if Starbucks kept raising and lowering the price of coffee they sell in the store you might get upset. But since the coffee is a commodity, the price would fluctuate. And Starbucks knows since they buy so much coffee, that they would have to guarantee they have the coffee, and then they would have to pay a premium price for the contract for coffee.

Mr. Schultz the founder of Starbucks, a former Chicago boy and commodity trader knows that with the volume of coffee it's Starbucks sell, if they entered into contracts to buy the coffee in advance then they would also be raising the price of the commodity itself. Now Starbucks the seller to the end user owns 23 percent of all the coffee plantations in the world. Are they manipulating the commodity, sure they are. But if they fail to manipulate the commodity of coffee and sell retail the large volume of coffee they do, then they would have decreased margins of profits. That would hurt shareholder value, quarterly profits and there is no way Starbucks would have reported a 37 percent gain in profits in the fourth quarter of 2001. Not to mention the exponential growth in stores and profits since their original IPO. You should not be surprised, that Starbucks has been able to do this.

You should not be surprised that Folders coffee and other name brand coffees have increased their prices in the stores. Its Starbucks owns 23 percent of all plantations of coffee in the world then that leaves 77 percent. Now those other companies are vying for that 77 percent since the total production of coffee available to the commodities exchange is 23 percent less. Therefore simple supply and demand in the irregularities of weather, which limits output of a plantation, will tend to drive the price and upward direction. It's Starbucks does not need all the coffee for its own stores, it can now sell its coffee beans on the open market to other companies at wholesale level. That is of course before the coffee beans actually get branded Starbucks. At that point they are just the commodities of coffee beans.

"Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs


MORE RESOURCES:
Google

Coffee Earns Country Sh440b in 2007
AllAfrica.com, Washington - 6 hours ago
UGANDA earned $265m (about sh440b) in 2007 from coffee exports, making it the leading foreign exchange earner. A report by the Uganda Export Promotion Board ...


India coffee prices up on demand, low arrivals
Economic Times, India - 5 hours ago
MUMBAI: Prices rose at the Indian Coffee Trade Association auction on Thursday due to rising domestic demand and falling arrivals, traders said on Friday. ...


Hindu Business Line

NMCE to focus on coffee futures
Sify, India - 9 hours ago
Kochi: The National Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (NMCE) is going to focus more on coffee futures trading to increase the volume and participation. ...
NMCE to revive coffee futures Livemint
all 4 news articles


Seattle Post Intelligencer

Customized personal "Coffee Table Books" by famous Eastside ...
Seattle Post Intelligencer - 7 hours ago
Have you ever thought about having your own customized and personalized "Coffee Table Book"of you and/or your family? What a fantastic idea for Birthday's, ...


Gay Socialites

Free Mickey D sandwiches and Dunkin' ice coffee
Boston Globe, United States - May 15, 2008
Our pals at Dunkin' have declared this Free Ice Coffee Day. From 10 to 10 you can walk into any participating store, sidle up to the bar, ...
Dunkin' Donuts Won't Give You A Cup Of Iced Coffee Because You Look... The Consumerist
Friday Zeitgeist National Post
Dunkin' Donuts To Offer Free Iced Coffee on Thursday TransWorldNews (press release)
NBC 10.com - Hoboken411.com
all 15 news articles


Local Businesses, Residents Send Coffee To Troops
Leesburg Today, VA - 1 hour ago
By Samatha Bartram Frequenters of local Starbucks coffee retailers may have noticed collection baskets where patrons could buy bags of coffee and have it ...


On the road to Damascus Coffee Shop
Moncton ThisWeek, Canada - 4 hours ago
By Katie Hunter What makes one coffee shop different than all the rest, besides fueling our caffeine fix in the mornings? It's about quality service. ...


Beverley coffee bar in hot water over planning row
Beverley Guardian, UK - 2 hours ago
COFFEE bar chain Costa is in hot water over its new cafe in Beverley, which has opened without planning permission. The coffee house opened last month on ...


Association ignites coffee consumption
Malawi's Daily Times, Malawi - 3 hours ago
BY CAROLINE KANDIERO Coffee Association of Malawi (Camal) says domestic consumption of coffee in the country is below expectation, a move which might ...


ECIKS.org

Strauss to buy coffee business in Albania, Kosovo
ECIKS.org, Austria - 3 hours ago
The operations had sales of 4.5 million euros in 2007, mainly in the area of espresso and specialty coffee drinks and the activities are profitable, ...

Coffee - Google News

home | site map
© 2006