That is good news. Thanks for the info.
But once a product goes through a price spike and a container downsize the price per ounce or pound never seems to fall back to the old levels. Still, any price drop is welcome.
We constantly see spin articles posted explaining that there is no inflation and that prices are actually going down. But Walmart and other grocers haven't got the word!
The past 18 months have been a one-off. Rain was very scarce in Sep-Dec of 2009, leading to reduced flowering, which in turn led to much lower pollenisation, which in its turn led to substantially fewer cherries and hence fewer beans. Worse, come harvest time (typically end May-mid August), there was an overabundance of rain which rotted many cherries and screwed up the crop even further.
This occurred not only in S America but in Vietnam (now the 4th largest grower) and to some extent in Indonesia. The US doesn't drink much Asian coffee -- they grow strains of Robusta, not arabica -- but it's all of a pattern: a lot less coffee available, worldwide.
Just a simple reversion toward the mean in terms of distribution of rainfall this autumn (well, spring in the southern hemisphere, of course) will go a long way, along with the good harvest this year, toward dropping coffee prices back toward typical levels.
I hear your complaint about retail prices; it's the same one voiced about motor gasoline prices, to wit, they go up more quickly than they "should" and go down more slowly than they "should". This perception is generated by a misunderstanding of the retailer's pricing necessities, to a large extent.
A retailer who prices for sale based on his cost of purchase is going to go bankrupt, probably sooner than later. A retailer who wants to stay in business must price based on his COST OF INVENTORY REPLACEMENT, unless he has effectively infinite working capital. This is especially true of perishable goods, fruits, vegetables, flowers and whatnot else. Why? Stated baldly, if he buys inventory for X and sells it for X+15% while his replacement cost has in the meantime gone to X+30%, then he either 1) ponies up more working capital to buy his next batch of inventory or 2) buys less and less inventory over time.
When prices are rather tame, as in pre-1972 or 1985-1990, this isn't AS critical, but it is still true. When prices are extremely volatile, as now, our hypothetical retailer can (and does, bet your life) go broke in as few as 5 inventory cycles.
Sorry about "up fast, down slow", but it's a necessary survival tool for a retailer.
FReegards!