P&G; to Hike Prices on Folgers Coffee

Procter & Gamble Co. will raise the price of a 13-ounce can of its Folgers coffee by 30 cents, the first increase in more than two years, because of the higher cost of raw beans. The increase, effective Monday, will bring the price of Folgers regular ground coffee to $2.50 a can and decaffeinated coffee to $3.20. That’s close to prices in August 1998, before two reductions. Coffee futures have soared 77% from a five-year low on Oct. 1 amid expectations that a two-month drought in Brazil will leave next year’s crop as much as 50% short of early estimates. This week, coffee futures soared 30% in New York trading. Cincinnati-based P&G; said it would not raise the price of instant coffee. A spokeswoman for Philip Morris Cos. said the company had no announcement of any change in the price of its Maxwell House coffee. The company currently prices a 13-ounce can of regular-ground Maxwell House at $2.21, she said. The March contract rose 8.1 cents, or 6%, on Friday to $1.4405 a pound.