P&G; Cuts Prices on Folgers Coffee

Procter & Gamble Co. said it will cut the price of its Folgers brand coffee for the first time in more than a year to reflect lower prices for raw beans. Industry analysts said they expect other coffee roasters to match the cuts. P&G; said the recommended retail price for Folgers regular ground, the nation’s best-selling coffee brand, will fall by 10 cents to $2.20 for a 13-ounce can effective Sept. 13. A 13-ounce can of decaffeinated coffee will also fall by 10 cents, to $2.90. The price cuts come amid a 29% drop in coffee futures traded in New York during the past year. Prices were driven down by bumper harvests in Latin America, particularly in top-grower Brazil, which last year harvested its largest crop in 11 years. “The others will definitely follow,” Donald Schoenholt, of Gillies Coffee Co. in New York, told Reuters. “The others will probably wait for six months until they get the winter season under their belt.”