“The arabica prices, when they were at their maximum, they were not driven by coffee fundamentals. They were driven by investment speculation in commodities.” - Per Harkjaer, United Coffee’s CEO. By Isis Almeida Bloomberg News April 26, 2012 Coffee will trade at about $1.80 a pound until the end of 2012, a drop of 42 percent from a 14-year high last year, according to United Coffee, a private-label coffee maker and supplier to McDonald’s Corp. (MCD). Prices are likely to be $1.80 to $1.90 a pound until the end of the year, said Per Harkjaer, United Coffee’s chief executive officer. Arabica coffee climbed to $3.089 in New York on May 3, the highest since 1997, as rains cut output in Colombia, the second-biggest grower of the variety, and the crop in top global producer Brazil entered the lower-yielding half of a two-year cycle, reducing production. “The arabica prices, when they were at their maximum, they were not driven by coffee fundamentals,” Harkjaer, wh...