Price Cut By Folgers Maker May Start Coffee Price War
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Is there a coffee price war brewing?
As WBBM Newsradio's Regine Schlesinger reports, that morning cup of coffee could soon be a little less expensive.
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After more than a year of rising prices, J.M. Smucker, the maker of Folgers and other coffee brands, says it's cutting the cost of most of its coffees by 6 percent as wholesale prices recently inched down.
The move puts pressure on Northfield-based Kraft, which makes Maxwell House and other brands.
Kraft told Reuters it had nothing to announce Tuesday.
Smucker's price cut also affects packaged Dunkin' Donuts coffee sold in retail stores, even as the chain, which just went public, increased the price of coffee in its Dunkin' Donuts shops.
Rising costs have also forced Starbucks, Green Mountain and Nestle to raise their prices, Reuters reported.
Reuters reports Arabica coffee futures hit a 34-year high in May, at $3.0890 per pound, but since then the market has dropped about 20 percent.
