coffee. sugar and coco to rise 5 to 10 fold by 2014
 

Heard this today on TSP. Here is a link

.http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...inflation.html

I know I can store green coffee beans for 2 years or more..Maybe I should get another 100 pounds.

I am thinking that whole beans even the vacuum packed ones would be fine too right?
or not?

and Sugar- I guess I should get those 5 gallon drums and store it !

we are slowly getting used to teas we grow ourselves.

5 to 10 FOLD?

I know there is inflation, but I don't buy that we'll have 20 - 50 $/lb. coffee beans in the next two years. If so, you should take every bit of money you have and invest it in coffee beans. It'll be a better return than you get on the stock market, or Gold, or silver for that matter.

The article said that "Coffee jumped more than fivefold in the two years through July 1994 and more than tripled from February 2002 to March 2005. Sugar prices rose fourfold from June 2002 to February 2006 and more than tripled from June 2007 to February last year. Cocoa advanced 242 percent from December 2000 to January 2003."

I did not check the articles sources, so I am just assuming the article written by Bloomberg is correct.

So...we've already seen 5 fold on coffee in 2 years---it's happened once, it can certainly happen again.

I wonder if during that time of steep price increases if the US was also seeing quick increases in wages?

Since these are all luxury items perhaps a downturn in the buying market would bring the prices back to a different level and keep them from going up. Nah, people won't give up their coffee, chocolate and sweets!

Around here, coffee is definitely a survival item.

If I don't get my morning coffee, no one is going to survive. :grump:

Will stock some coffee beans and add all the cocoa I can...

Sugar hmmm... maybe sugar beets or sweet sorghum? How do they process those? Possible on a small scale? hmmm....

This is the thing about statistics that most people get wrong.

A "5 fold increase" from .75 to 3.75 is not equivalent to a 5.00 to 25.00 increase.

Which of those could be absorbed by the market?

If you study the law of diminishing returns (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diminishing_returns) it will help describe the situation a little better.

I'll stand by my statement that we won't see $25.00 a lb. coffee within 2 years. If we do, that will be the least of your worries because fuel will be about 40 dollars a gallon in that world.

Totally off-topic, and I'm probably late to the party, but...why can we call you 'Hans'?

There are recipes for making sugar syrup from sugar beets.

http://www.zetatalk.com/food/tfoox061.htm

I'm not surprised by cocoa prices. The Ivory Coast is having major problems. They've stopped all exports.

No biggie on coffee, I can't stand it anyway. I buy very little raw sugar or coco. I do suspect this will negatively affect my skittles and chocolate milk cravings.

The locals haven't got the memo on sugar yet. Figure I'm good for at least two heavy canning seasons, or a looonnnggg time without canning.

I do love my dried cocoa powder, and do put up metal cans of the chocolate syrup...

Don't 'do' coffee... I do 'do' tea. Amazon had a subscription special recently for 1/3rd what I pay in the store, w/free shipping. Whole thing was actually FREE! They gave me a $40 credit on the Amazon card I signed up for.

Good thing sugar stores pretty much forever.

I can live without all three. without coffee, tho, there's a man in this house that is sure going to be cranky! LOL coffee prices have risen and fell so many times that any projected inflation seems like normal pricing procedure.

I agree that we won't see $25/lb coffee by 2014. (unless there's a global crop failure). Sugar, as well. For us, the coffee wouldn't be a problem...I love the stuff, but can't drink much anymore, so....(artificer hates coffee) However I will DEFINITELY stay out of Tracy's way! :eek: Sugar...well, we have bees for honey, and I can probably figure out how to make sugar from sugar beets...maybe?

Cotton is going to go quite high this year. Crop failures in 2 countries that supply cotton to the world...price has skyrocketed on raw cotton, and that is starting to filter into the retail market. ... Goodbye $3.00 all cotton t-shirts. but that's a supply problem, not a normal inflation thing. They (the speculators and analysts) expect prices to drop again with a good year. Prices went from $70ish to $150 on commodities market in just a few months. :(

Sounds like investing in gachies (underwear) might not be such a bad idea

Underwear,socks,sheets,towels,sewing fabric,jeans,thread, cloth diapers....Q-tips!

Have my coffee,cocoa and sugar covered for the next year.

We stocked up on undies in February...Our oldest daughter was working at Kmart so we were able to get them at a good price with her discount. She knew that she was leaving, so we got them while we were able.

We're down to the last 2 containers of DH's coffee and he swears he's not buying anymore due to the high cost. I need to :runforhills:

I just bought a few months worth of coffee. I'm thinking I need more. It isn't pretty if I don't have my coffee.

That said, if coffee goes that high, I'm switching to drinking it Turkish style and may eat the grounds with a spoon to get my caffeine fix. (Ewww. I know, but people eat chocolate covered coffee beans, after all...)

They are wonderful

My wife just bought coffee a day or two ago.

The price of the container she bought went from about $8 to about $12
I'm not sure how long ago she bought the last one

Just to be clear, I think all of these commodities will increase in cost, most certainly.

The biggest factor is Inflation, but if it's "inflation" that does a 5 fold increase on the cost of goods, everything will go up like that. The article specifically said it was because of limited quantities of place to grow coffee and other excuses like that.

People are pretty industrious, and if the price of ANYTHING increases by 5 fold, they'll be growing coffee beans on rooftops, backyards and moving vehicles... which then increases supply and the price drops.

We've seen an increase in our coffee also, but once you reach a certain point, people won't afford it and will cut it out, and then, again, supply increases and the price comes down.

My dr told me yesterday that food is going to be the next wealth indicator. I was reading Eliot Coleman's "Winter Harvest Handbook" while waiting on her. She said her family was preparing for her to be able to quit her job as a DR to feed their family if necessary. Hmmmm? We live in agriculatural heaven. Everyone and their dog runs a farm stand in their driveway. There are orcards/vineyards/row crops EVERYWHERE. I said I thought her Dr-ing skills would be a good trade. She doesn't trust even that.

I think we are in the midst of a mind set readjustment as to what is a luxury and what is unheard of. I'm already starting to think in terms of the 'good old days'.

For those who have a Save-A-Lot store nearby, check your local circular as the ones here have Maxwell House Coffee, 32 ounce can for $4.99 this week. Limit 2 cans, but we all know what that means, parking lot relay :)

They also carry their brand which is pretty decent for $3.99, I think it is a 28 or 30 ounce can.

:hysterical:

Shop a Meijer's. Their prices have held pretty much steady for the last 5 years.

Sounds like fear mongering to me.

Seedspreader, I've been reading a lot of your posts lately. If TSHTF, I'd want to be on your team. Level, coolheaded thinker! :goodjob:

Well, just on the chance that this does occur, I think I'll set back a bit extra of eacho f the three. I'd be surprised to see coffee selling that high (who could afford it?) but I wouldn't be surprised to see it hit $20. I did notice that the sizes of some of the so-called "large" tubs have shrank again. Seems it was Folgers that shrank but I may be wrong. I was lucky and got a few tubs of Folgers on sale a couple weeks ago. I set back a few more today, though those were generics (not our favorite, but they were on sale for $5 a can for Best Choice).

I'm going to set back a couple bags of sugar each time I go to the store and try to put a few containers of cocoa back because I do love my chocolate...

The coffee has an 18 month sell-by date, so it should be fine for a couple of years, at least. Sugar will never go bad - might get hard, but a hammer or hot water will solve that...

It's all a ruse. I'm really a brain-eating zombie.

:hair

Chocolate syrup...2 cups sugar, 1/2 cup dry cocoa, 1 cup water, pinch salt..Bring to boil, add 1/2 tsp vanilla and cook 2 minutes....tip, do this in a big pan as it will boil over in a blink of an eye. This is the soda fountain recipe of my grandparents...as it cools it thickens. No odd chemical names, no plastic bottle. Once you try it you won't go back. Is even tolerable with cheap Aldi cocoa but I prefer Penzey's.

I have plentifil lstores of cocoa and sugar...buy sugar in bulk for the bees, if needed, and canning. Coffee is something we are cutting down to two pots a day. Probably better for our health anyhow!! We buy beans at Aldi and store in freezer. Good thing we like tea. Pity the folks when their Coke runs out. DEE

I have a friend who sells coffee for 25 bucks a pound, it's that stuff from north Africa where the goats eats the coffee beans and poop them out and people pick the beans out of the poop. He always sells out of it.