Specialty coffee market quiet, supplies tight

By Bruce Kamich
NEW YORK, June 6 (Reuters) - Specialty coffee dealers said on Friday that business was unusually quiet with most retailers' sales numbers down from a year ago, but prices for choice beans remained firm with supplies short until the next crops become available.

"Everybody I see or talk to are reporting down sales versus a year ago, except for Starbucks," said one specialty dealer.

Dealers said that between the tourism slump and the public's fear of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), consumption of coffee out of the home appears to be in a rut.

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