Starbucks Buying Less
Costa Rica Coffee
Starbucks, the US coffee giant has reduced
the amount of purchases of Costa Rican
coffee this year, according to the Instituto
del Café de Costa Rica (ICAFE) - the Costa
Rican Coffee Institute.
The reason may be Starbuck's decision to
reduce inventory.
The company usually pays top dollar for high
quality coffee, said Ronald Peters, head
ICAFE, declining to say what the amount was.
Half of Costa Rican coffee exports go to the
United States, a share that Peters said has
been maintained despite slowed sales to
Starbucks.
Starbucks' U.S. operations have struggled
due to the recession but the firm posted its
first quarterly rise in same-store sales in
two years last week.
Guatemalan growers reported in December that
Starbucks had been slow to buy coffee and
speculated at the time the delay was an
attempt to secure lower prices.
Prices for Central American coffee have
surged amid shortfalls in harvests from
major producer Colombia. Colombia expects
its crop will recover this season as a crop
rejuvenation program starts to pay
dividends.
Starbucks confirmed in a statement that it
had made purchases for the 2009/10 growing
season from Guatemala and Costa Rica along
with other Latin American nations but
declined to provide a forecast of its
purchasing activity for competitive reasons.
The company said it buys about 75 percent of
its coffee in Latin America and is normally
one of the leading buyers of Costa Rican
coffee.
Peters said Costa Rican producers have found
buyers willing to pay a "satisfactory" price
of $us1.40 per lb in New York despite the
slowdown in purchases by Starbucks.
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