The world's largest coffee producer, Brazil, announced the crop to fall 20% this year, due to an alternating production cycle and bad weather conditions in the highest Arabica fields.

The Brazilian coffee production will only reach a total of maximum 33 million 60-kilo (132-pound) bags in the 2005 - 2006 crop year, down from 38.7 million bags this year (2004 - 2005).

This is the first time coffee price rises significantly since 1997. But Community Coffee's Executive Vice President, Matthew Saurage, says the producing costs for Premium Arabica - the coffee in the Community's traditional red bags - did not cease to increase over the last years. Compared to 2002, costs have cumulated a 40% raise.

Saurage specified that the Community Coffee is more affected than other retailers which sell blends with Robusta that is about half the price of Arabica. Many retailers choose to lower their prices this way, in exchange to some flavour in the coffee cup. The premium brand of Community Coffee uses 100% Arabica beans.

Community Coffee is the largest family-owned coffee retailer in America, founded in 1919 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Procter & Gamble has already announced to increase the price for its Folgers roast and ground coffee, by 14 %, (up from $2 to $2.28 for a 13-ounce can) while the grocery store price is expected to increase by 5 % to 8 %.

With Folgers leading the North American coffee market by more than 30%, it is expected that other leading retailers will raise their prices at the same pace.

Retailers and coffee shop owners complain not only about the coffee price but of everything that comes with coffee - milk, sugar, cups and lids - prices that have gone up in the last four months, while the "bottom" cup prices still remained steady. This is the drop that filled the cup, they opine.

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