Starbucks: Bagged Coffee Prices Raised 17%

(Article on Starbucks raising coffee prices updated with additional information.)
SEATTLE (TheStreet) -- Starbucks (SBUX) announced a 17% price hike in bagged coffee, underscoring the pressure coffee retailers are facing as Arabica coffee bean futures continue to trade near decades-long highs.

Starbucks announced the price hike on Wednesday, echoing J.M. Smucker's (SJM) move a day earlier, but market watchers and consumers were still absorbing the news on Thursday.

Coffee futures hit a three-decade high of $3.0615 per pound on May 3 but have come down somewhat from that price in recent trading sessions. The commodity most recently traded at $2.6400 per pound.

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For Starbucks, the move to raise prices comes as somewhat of a surprise since the coffee shop chain said earlier this month it had already contracted its coffee purchases for the remainder of fiscal 2011, locking in its costs.

Starbucks said the price hikes will be applied to bagged coffee sold at its cafes in the U.S., effective July 12. It was the first price increase on café-sold bagged coffee in two years. In March Starbucks hiked the price of bagged coffee sold at supermarkets by 12%.

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