Poor Farmer

By Isis Almeida Bloomberg January 3, 2012 Coffee prices will remain supported this year due to climate change and market fundamentals, according to Santos, Brazil-based broker Escritorio Carvalhaes. The price of arabica beans rose to a 14-year high of $3.089 a pound in New York on May 3 as heavy rainfall caused by the La Nina weather conditions cut output in Colombia, the world’s second-largest producer of the variety. Coffee slipped 5.7 percent in New York last year and closed 42 percent above the 5- year average, according to data on Bloomberg. “Climate changes and market fundamentals will maintain prices in 2012, but we will continue to be tied to the developments of the euro-zone crisis and its consequences to the global economy,” the broker said in a report e-mailed yesterday. Arabica coffee supplies will match demand in the 2011-12 season started in October after at least three years of deficits, data from Macquarie Group Ltd. show. Arabica beans ...

By Annie Gasparro Dow Jones Newswires January 3, 2012 NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Starbucks Corp. ( SBUX ) is raising its menu  prices in certain regions in an effort to combat higher coffee prices it's facing this year. The Seattle chain is raising prices about 1% in the Northeast and Sunbelt regions, which include cities such as New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, Atlanta, Dallas and Albuquerque, N.M.Starbucks wouldn't give details of all the states that will receive an increase, but did say it includes most Southern states besides California and Florida. Throughout the recession and recovery, Starbucks has continued implementing annual menu price increases, but said it has still taken "far less" of an increase than others in the industry. The latest push comes as Starbucks faces higher commodity costs this fiscal year than some of its competitors. Starbucks contracted its coffee prices for the full fiscal year 2012, which began in October, we...