Maxwell House Raises Coffee Prices Again

Coffee prices are rising again.

Maxwell House Coffee Co. said Wednesday that it is boosting the price of its ground coffee by 6.8% and its instant coffee by 5.7% in response to recent increases in the cost of raw beans.

Maxwell House now charges the same for a 13-ounce can of its flagship ground coffee--$3.16 wholesale--as Procter & Gamble charges for its Folgers ground coffee.

Folgers, the best-selling coffee brand in the United States last year, posted an identical 20-cent-a-can hike Friday.

Maxwell House has changed prices six times in less than 2 1/2 months, raising them four times and lowering them twice as it responded to changes in the price of unprocessed coffee beans.

World coffee markets have been rocked because cold and dry weather has damaged the crop in Brazil, cutting the potential supply from the world’s biggest producer.