Coffee Industry
Industry Introduction
From the discovery of small, brightly colored red berries on trees in Ethiopia came the largest imported commodity in the world, second only to oil. The coffee bean provides a livelihood for over 20 million people worldwide with an estimated worldwide retail sales expected to grow by a compounded rate of 6.9% from 2005-2010, reaching $48.2 billion by 2010, according to The U.S. Market for Coffee and Ready-to-Drink Coffee. [1]
The two main species of coffee beans are Arabica and Robusta. Arabica is a high-quality coffee typically grown at higher elevations where the optimal climatic conditions necessary to grow this specialty grade of coffee are found. Arabica coffee is traded in two ways:
On the highly volatile New York "C" market where the "C" price is affected by the global supply as it rises and falls. The average "C" price for a pound of coffee during fiscal 2005 was $1.04.
Higher-quality Arabica beans are used in specialty......
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