US Edition 
Coffee prices soar by a fifth in two years
The price of coffee on supermarket shelves has soared by a fifth in two years after speculators hoarded last year’s harvest and drove the price up.
The cost of both instant and filter coffee has risen sharply, adding significantly to the cost of the weekly shop.
The price rises follow frenetic speculation on the world coffee markets last summer, when the price of coffee hit a 34-year high.
According to research in The Grocer magazine, the price of a kilo of coffee in the UK’s big five supermarkets has risen from an average of just under £19 two years ago to over £23 today.
Prices in shops lag what is happening on the commodities market by nine to 12 months, according to Matthew Ferguson, an expert at market analysis BrandView.co.uk. This means that last summer’s price rises are being felt by consumers now.
The Grocer reported that Kraft's Carte Noir coffee, Fairtrade brand Cafedirect and Douwe Egberts are among the brands that have seen price increases on some supermarket shelves.
According to inflation figures released last week by the Office for National Statistics, the price of coffee and other hot drinks rose by as much as 14 per cent earlier this year compared to 2011.
Last year Howard Shultz, the president of coffee chain Starbucks, attacked speculators for driving up the price of coffee.
He told The Daily Telegraph that the rise in costs of coffee and other commodities is “not based on supply and demand” but based on market speculation.
He said that rises in the wholesale prices has resulted in “every coffee company having to pay extraordinarily high prices for coffee”.
Given that coffee prices on the commodities markets have been falling since last autumn, the cost of coffee in the weekly shop should start to fall within months.