Monday, September 09, 2002


chocolatefinger bets on coffee

anthony ward, executive of u.k. trading firm armajaro, made quite a splash for himself this summer by presciently cornering the cocoa maket. prices have kept rising as bad weather in africa continues to suppress production.

as a result, the british press has nicknamed him "chocolatefinger" along the lines of the james bond villian goldfinger, who planned to destroy the gold bullion in fort knox and thus become the world's largest owner of usuable gold.

it's expected he will make many tens of millions in pounds sterling profit when he finally sells the last of his stock to desperate manufacturers in time for the holiday rush. fortunately for us consumers, we should not see a big rise in the cost of our holiday chocolate gifts, since the actual cost of the raw cocoa is a small part of the overall cost of premium chocolate.

what's most interesting about this is that the savvy speculator suggests that coffee may be the next hot area. if so, this could be a boon for the coffee industry. i won't re-iterate the human costs of the current world-price depression, particularly in latin america. coffee workers in nicaragua have already starved to death; and it appears the hunger and resulting social instability continues to spread to mexico and guatemala.

but will a price increase reach the farmers in time to save their farm -- and the lives of coffee workers? readers, you don't have to wait on the market: you can save lives yourself today by donating to that excellent charity, coffeekids.

posted by fortune | 6:17 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments