Higher Coffee Prices Brewing

Glut Leads To Lower Prices Followed By Spike

MIAMI -- Coffee prices are perking upward, and Miami importers said the price of coffee could soon jump again -- as much as 50 percent.

Global overproduction of coffee led to extremely low prices over the past few years, but experts said that's changing.

Coffee farmers, frustrated by the low per-bag price they were getting, have now limited crops to make their harvest more valuable. Prices have already risen about 60 percent in the past few months.

According to Bloomberg News, some top coffee producers, including Brazil, Vietnam and Indonesia, are producing smaller and smaller crops. In 2003, Vietnam cut down about 7 percent of the coffee trees in its main growing area, according to the International Herald Tribune. Dry weather in Brazil this year is also expected to impact the supply, and the December tsunami has also had an effect on shipping and exporting.

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