Cost Pass-Through in the U.S. Coffee Industry
by
Ephraim Leibtag, Alice Nakamura, Emi Nakamura, and Dawit Zerom
Economic Research Report No. (ERR-38) 28 pp, March 2007
cover image for err38
A rich data set of coffee prices and costs was used to determine to what extent changes in commodity costs affect manufacturer and retail prices. On average, a 10-cent increase in the cost of a pound of green coffee beans in a given quarter results in a 2-cent increase in manufacturer and retail prices in the current quarter. If a cost change persists for several quarters, it will be incorporated into manufacturer prices approximately cent-for-cent with the commodity-cost change. Given the substantial fixed costs and markups involved in coffee manufacturing, this translates into about a 3-percent change in retail prices for a 10-percent change in commodity prices. Coffee manufacturers do not appear to take advantage of manufacturing and production cost variation to raise retail prices; retail prices respond the same to both increases and decreases in costs of coffee beans.
Keywords: Coffee, retail prices, pass-through, manufacturer prices, price-cost relationship
In this publication...
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Report summary, Pdf file 91 kb | HTML
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Abstract, Contents, and Summary, Pdf file 170 kb
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Introduction, Pdf file 57 kb
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The Coffee Value Chain, Pdf file 104 kb
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Data Description, Pdf file 58 kb
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How Important Is the Coffee Bean in Determining Costs?, Pdf file 66 kb
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Differences in Prices Across Markets, Pdf file 60 kb
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Responding to Costs, Pdf file 75 kb
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Asymmetric Cost Adjustment, Pdf file 68 kb
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Pricing Strategy Patterns, Pdf file 185 kb
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Conclusion, Pdf file 56 kb
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References, Pdf file 128 kb
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Entire report, Pdf file 444 kb
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