Are Wall Street Speculators Upping Our Cup of Joe?

WOW! Coffee prices reportedly continue to soar dramatically. Coffee consumption and demand had increased globally and driven prices up, but demand and supply fundamentals are not the only factors at play in increased coffee prices.

According to news reports, Hedge Fund and other Wall Street speculators influencing the commodity markets are the culprits guilty of driving up the cost of a cup of joe for the average Joe.

Yeps, those same financial investors who made us pay more for our gasoline. Now, they are messing with our coffee too.

According to reports (see http://www.sacbee.com/2011/09/04/3881460/coffee-prices-soar-speculators.html), retail coffee prices were up more than 20 percent in July 2011 compared to the same month of 2010.

While coffee prices were cut down a bit by marketers in recent weeks, prices for future coffee delivery contracts keep rising.

In some places in the US, the price for a can of coffee in recent months was in the range of $7 to $8.