Venezuela's coffee industry in chaos as price of beans doubles

Greg Morsbach in Caracas
Tuesday January 10, 2006
The Guardian

An attempt by Venezuela's leftwing president, Hugo Chávez, to double the price that coffee producers pay farmers for a sack of beans has led to empty shelves in supermarkets throughout the country and fears of shortages of other basic foodstuffs.

President Chávez, who maintains price controls on basic foodstuffs, raised the price of coffee beans by 100% last month after weeks of protests by coffee farmers.

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