Folgers, a brand of Procter & Gamble Co, boosted the price of its roast-and-ground coffee by 14 percent on Thursday, affecting about 75 percent of the company's retail coffee line. Citing rising coffee prices for green beans, a company spokeswoman said the new list price will be about $2.28 per 13-ounze equivalent for ground coffee sold in retail stores.
"This is based on the increase in prices on the green coffee market," said Tonia Hyatt. "For our roast-and-ground products, which are the bulk of our business, those will increase by 28 cents per 13-ounze equivalent."
Other Folgers' special roast products were increased by different amounts, she said.
Folgers last raised list prices on November 18, 2002, although the company reduced promotional spending in April this year.
On the commodity market, actively traded arabica coffee futures in New York hit a 4-1/2-year on December 2 March futures peaked at $1.0250 per pound.
At 9:53 am EST (1453 GMT) Thursday, the March contract was trading at 99 cents a pound, up 0.95 cent from Wednesday's settlement price.
Investor appetite for coffee futures has perked up this year as the industry emerged from a crisis of low prices and oversupply to prospects of flagging world production and steady to rising consumption of the brew.
The price rise by Folgers, considered generally a trend-setter for the mainstream roasters, follows a move by specialty-coffee retail giant Starbucks Corp to increase beverage prices in North America by 11 cents a cup on average on October 6. Roasters buy green coffee and sell it wholesale or retail in whole bean or ground form.
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