Coffee Consumption and Prices in the United States

The current situation and prospects for coffee are of widespread interest to American consumers and to those who supply them, and it is of vital interest to the many Latin American countries that depend on coffee as a primary source of foreign exchange earnings. The smaller per capita use of coffee in the United States in 1956 and 1957, and the rising world production and stocks, combined to reduce prices of coffee during 1957 and early 1958. The trade, foreign producers, and foreign and U. S. Government administrators have a continuing interest in the analysis and measurement of factors that influence world demand and prices of coffee. The purposes of this paper are (1) to report some research on statistical analyses of the major economic factors that influence U. S. consumption and wholesale prices of coffee, and (2) to use these analyses in appraising the current situation and prospective trends in coffee consumption in the United States. This study was prepared by the author in connection with a short assignment in February this year with the Nicaraguan Government. Their Government was interested in the probable future expansion of the U. S. market for tropical products that can be grown in Nicaragua