Rip off Britain - Jars of coffee

[Deano...]

Various reasons given for coffee being so expensive:

"There has been storms and floods in Columbia, the second biggest producer of coffee in the world, reducing availability of coffee"
Yes, there have been storms and floods there, however -
Columbia were in the process of reducing their exports of coffee beans - even with the storms and floods they still failed to reduce the amount of coffee they exported (11 million tonnes this year - the same as last year!)
We know Columbia's production has not been reduced (either by planning or floods) so this is a lie?

"Transporting the product costs have shot up!"
The price of oil is falling, considerably lower than it was in August 2008 (last year) so much so, that OPEC is considering lowering production to protect the oil price from falling even more.

"Coffee beans are in shorter supply this year"
A complete fudge this one.
There are more than 25 countries which produce coffee beans.
Starbucks for example, have a signed agreement to buy from Ethiopia.
Brazil exported more tonnes of coffee last year than they have done for many years, almost 32 million tonnes of the stuff (27% of the world's production!)
Columbia has produced another vast crop of coffee, despite bad weather and enforced reductions, more than they wanted to produce.

"Farmers and suppliers have to be paid more for their product"
Again, fabrication. Many farmers for example in Ethiopia, are struggling to eat as the price they are being given for their coffee crop is falling.

"The market price of coffee is rising all the time"
Simply not true!
Last month (July 2009) the market price of coffee fell dramatically, as it has continued to do so for many months, on the London markets.
Coffee prices on the Vietnamese markets is falling so fast, government intervention there is being considered to protect their exports.

The fact is, when we see a jar of coffee on the shelf in the UK, we are being stung by paying an over inflated price.
In the past 12 months, the price of a small 100g jar has risen by between 13% - 22%

Enough is enough, when is something going to be done about it?