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Strategies & Market Trends : Commodities - The Coming Bull Market -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Thomas M. who wrote (90)	6/4/2001 9:30:06 PM
From: craig crawford	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1643

Monday June 4, 2:44 pm Eastern Time Consumption survey shows 3 million new US coffee drinkers NEW YORK, June 4 (Reuters) - Americans are swallowing more coffee than ever in 2001, with gourmet coffee consumers and other occasional drinkers leading the way, according to an annual industry survey of coffee usage released Monday. Three million new occasional coffee drinkers joined the ranks of U.S. adults over 18 years of age who drink coffee daily or occasionally, lifting the total to 164 million people, according to the National Coffee Association (NCA). The NCA survey found that occasional gourmet coffee drinkers surged 15 percent to 62 percent of the American adult population, or 127 million people. ``Total market penetration is at a new all-time high of 80 percent, up from 79 percent last year, and the gourmet coffee segment is the major reason for the increase,'' said Robert F. Nelson, NCA president and CEO, told Reuters in a phone interview Monday. ``Industry's responsiveness to the consumer with more products of higher quality being conveniently available is driving this growth,'' he added. The NCA survey noted that consumers have added a new taste in coffee with the iced coffee beverage claiming eight million weekly drinkers and another two million daily drinkers. NEW CATEGORY TRACKED The NCA knows that beverage consumption is a shifting landscape and in 2001 a new category of coffee beverages appeared -- cause-related coffees. This includes shade-grown, organically grown, fair-trade certified and bird-friendly coffees. ``Cause-related coffee is a small market niche but we have begun collecting information (on it),'' Nelson said. Organically grown coffee was the cause-related coffee that daily or weekly drinkers recognized the most, with 51 percent of gourmet drinkers saying that they were aware of the coffee type. Organic coffee is based on ecological principles rather than application of chemicals and does not comment on the quality of the coffee. An understanding of what these coffees are is complex and the terms can overlap, according to Rodney North of Equal Exchange, a worker-owned co-op in Canton Massachusetts that sells fairly traded gourmet coffee. ``My definition of shade grown is if when you lie on the ground in a shade coffee plot you don't get sunburned,'' said North. This perception could change as specialty coffee leader Starbucks Coffee Co. (NasdaqNM:SBUX - news) announced last Wednesday it would purchase its largest supply of Shade Grown Mexican coffee in its offering through its various distribution channels. Even though the average number of cups consumed per drinker rose to 3.3 cups per day from 3.1 cups, global coffee prices remain depressed because of an excess of production over consumption. Arabica coffee prices are languishing near eight year lows on the Coffee, Sugar & Cocoa Exchange and robusta futures on London's LIFFE are near a 30-year nadir. The NCA is the first trade association for the U.S. coffee industry and their tracking study survey has been conducted since 1950 to measure year-to-year trends in coffee consumption.