In the Upper Midwest of the United States this time of year, our love of hot drinks is particularly noticeable, as it is, no doubt, anywhere the temperatures drop below freezing and stay there a while. This made us think of the market for coffee. The market sizes presented here are world production figures for two years.

The production of this commodity is tracked in 60-kilogram bags of the beans. The price of coffee is tracked by the International Coffee Organization and has been rising steadily in recent years. Based on the monthly composite indicator price at which coffee is traded on the New York market the price rose 160% between December 2000 and December 2009. Over the same period, world inventories grew by 40%. And, since December 2009 the price has continued to rise, reaching 173.9 cents per pound in November 2010, the equivalent to 260% of the price per pound back in December 2000. Savor every sip!

We could do a simple calculation to get a rough approximation of the value of coffee produced in 2010, based on the information in our source report. If the November composite price for all types of coffee beans was $1.74, then a 60-kilogram bag would cost about $47.33 and thus world production in 2010 was worth approximately $5.6 billion. Of course, this is a very crude approximation so take it for what it is worth.

Geographic reference: World
Year: 2008 and 2010
Market size: 133.6 million and 139 million 60-kilogram bags respectively.
Source: “Coffee: World Markets and Trade,” USDA Circular Series, Table 6 and Table 8, December 2010, available online here.
Original source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service, and the International Coffee Organization.