High commodity pricing can be a major issue for the beverage industry. However, when premium-priced products are in demand, this challenge becomes less troublesome. Such is the case for the coffee market, in which growing trends such as higher-priced single-serve packaging are helping to offset rising costs of coffee beans, according to market research analysts.
Last year, the coffee market experienced a decline in green coffee bean prices, thereby enabling major manufacturers to drop the prices of their products, notes Dana LaMendola, beverages analyst for Euromonitor International, Chicago. As a result, volume sales of ground coffee at retail increased, but dollar sales slightly decreased, she says.