Coffee Information

Coffee Commodities and Starbucks


If we look at commodity trading from a purely conceptual standpoint, we find that the true reason for having a commodity exchange in the first place, was to stabilize pricing so that the American farmer could have a better idea of what his agricultural product would sell for once the harvest was complete. It also helped manufactures who needed raw materials to know how much money could be charged in their end product, by knowing their costs.

If we look at the Colombian coffee market we see some interesting things develop. Starbucks has bought up half of the plantations there. While Starbucks was buying coffee previously, those plantation owners made lots of money, now Starbucks owns the plantations and therefore is running them differently. And not buying coffee from the other plantations, therefore the coffee prices have been lowered throughout the country, causing a Terrible plight on the people. Yet, if those plantation owners been sold their properties to Starbucks, had never sold them in a first place, then they would still be making lots of money from Starbucks.

Starbucks job is to return shareholder value to its owners and that means operating very efficiently, that means pain as little as possible to wholesale coffee growers. It was able to do this by buying out the plantations and doing it themselves. Of course there is a different culture in Columbia and a large coffee plantations also cared for the workers. That is not the way a modern-day American corporation works. The plantation owners are very upset, those in still remain owners, who have not sold out because there is nowhere to sell their coffee, for the high price they previously sold to Starbucks. However one must also consider, that before Starbucks the coffee plantations made just average profits. When Starbucks came along, their profits when up temporarily, until five years later Starbucks bought their own plantations, and not just in Columbia, all over the world. Someday, coffee means will be less of a commodity then they are today, because Starbucks will own over 50 percent of all the coffee plantations.

Coffee plantations do not produce a lot of harvest until their many years old. Starbucks is controlling that commodity by owning 23 percent of the commodity. Whenever they don't use, they sell for a higher price than the original coffee plantations were selling for. Some might complain about this strategy, however if they are using mostly coffee are retail level and selling the rest then they are free to do that. The only real problem with this, is bad messes with the entire supply chain, in this case it heard the people, the hard-working people of Columbia. Think about the macro and micro economics of coffee commodities next time you sip on your Starbucks Coffee.

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


MORE RESOURCES:

Dog rolls van through St. James coffee shop window
Newsday, NY - 4 hours ago
Around 7:10 pm, Bryan Maher, 60, of Port Jefferson, parked his 1992 Chevrolet van in front of the Cool Beanz coffee shop on North Country Road, police said. ...
Dog Crashes Van into Coffee House on Long Island myfoxny.com
Police: Dog drives van into NY coffee house Staten Island Advance - SILive.com
Dog takes car for run and crashes into LI shop New York Daily News
all 5 news articles


El Cerrito man helps coffee farmers blossom
San Francisco Chronicle,  USA - 18 minutes ago
On a visit to the coffee-growing hills above San Lucas, Rice cultivated what would later become the American fair trade movement. ...


India Lowers Coffee Output Estimate on Excessive Rain (Update1)
Bloomberg - 7 minutes ago
20 (Bloomberg) -- India's coffee production, the third- biggest in Asia, will miss a June forecast after excessive rains last month damaged the crop in the ...


Coffee May Climb 20% by March on Smaller Brazil Crop (Update2)
Bloomberg - 18 hours ago
19 (Bloomberg) -- Robusta coffee prices, set for the first annual drop in five years, may climb about 20 percent by March as roasters rebuild stockpiles and ...
Tanzania coffee prices ease, track New York Reuters South Africa
all 8 news articles


Coffee Talk to have community Thanksgiving feast
Eudora News, KS - 2 hours ago
People gather for a Saturday night concert at Coffee Talk, 724 Main St., which will have a community Thanksgiving dinner from 5 to 8 pm Wednesday. ...


Coffee shop added to National Register
KPAX-TV, MT - 11 hours ago
(AP) - A coffee shop in Glacier National Park is being added to the National Register of Historic Places. The Lake McDonald Lodge Coffee Shop, ...
Glacier coffee shop gets historic status Daily Inter Lake
ACROSS the BIG SKY Great Falls Tribune
all 7 news articles


Coffee shop opens at Bethel train station
Danbury News Times, CT - 10 hours ago
After nearly two years without a coffee shop at the station on Durant Avenue, the new Daily Fare opened its doors at 5:30 am Monday. ...


CPD: Coffee Shop Robber Strikes Again
NBC4i.com, OH - 16 hours ago
By Donna Willis Police said the male has robbed at least three other Central Ohio coffee shops during the last month. The same man robbed the Caribou Coffee ...


Intelligentsia Coffee Celebrates Three 'Best Coffee' Awards
MarketWatch - Nov 18, 2008
CHICAGO, IL, Nov 18, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- Intelligentsia Coffee celebrates receiving three major awards in the past three months for their ...


Columbus Dispatch

Coffee-shop thief strikes a 5th time
Columbus Dispatch, OH - 21 hours ago
"It's the same guy," Sgt. Shaun Laird said of the gunman who has hit four coffee shops since he began by robbing an Italian Village dry cleaner on Oct. 13. ...
Police Seek Robber Targeting Coffee Shops 10TV
all 4 news articles

Coffee - Google News

home | site map
© 2006