News from the Coffee Front
p. 169 · Read in the full issue
LATE in October, the US Federal Trade Commission filed a formal complaint against the New York Coffee and Sugar Ex change, which markets 40 per cent, of the 3 million pounds annual coffee consumption of USA.
The charge is that the Exchange had restrained coffee trading over the past year, causing prices to rise out of all proportion to supply and demand.
Twelve months ago “futures” for October, 1954, were quoted at 58 cents. The actual spot price, October, 1954. was about 68 cents for Santos No. 4—the grade on which US prices are based. The spot price went to 94 cents in February, since when it has fallen steadily through buyer resistance— buyers purchased from Brazil in the July-September quarter only half the 4 million sacks bought in the same period in 1953. The price halted at around 70 cents through August, but has since dropped steeply.
US prices, of course, affect world prices and early November Aus tralian buyers and sellers were adopting a “wait and see” policy, with no one prepared to quote. A further fall appeared certain.