WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Packaged food giant Kraft Foods Group Inc. (KRFT) increased prices on some of its ground coffees for the first time in more than three years, according to reports.
The list price for Maxwell House and Yuban brands reportedly rose approximately 10% on Friday.
The price increases are a sign that a spike in arabica-coffee prices this year are trickling down to consumers. While they have recently eased from a more than two-year high near $2.15 a pound, arabica-coffee prices on ICE Futures U.S., a benchmark for the variety of bean, are up 55% this year, as the worst drought in decades has dimmed the outlook for supplies from top grower Brazil this year, the Wall Street Journal reported.
However, Kraft reportedly said the price increase doesn't apply to its instant and single-serve coffees or to Gevalia and Tassimo brands.
On Tuesday Branded food products maker J.M. Smucker Co. (SJM) increased the list price for the majority of its packaged coffee products sold in the U.S., primarily under the Folgers and Dunkin' Donuts brand names. Prices were raised an average of nine percent on impacted items in response to sustained increases in green coffee costs.
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