Coffee production down, prices go up
HONOLULU - Hawaii's coffee farmers saw production go down but prices go up.
The National Agricultural Statistics Service report says coffee farmers statewide produced 7.6 million pounds of beans for sale during the 2011-12 season. That is a 14 percent drop from 8.8 million pounds in the prior season.
However, the government report says the average price per pound of coffee paid to farmers rose 9 percent to $4.15 in the recent season from $3.80 in the prior season. The price increase added $2.7 million to total industry sales of $31.5 million.
Sales in the previous season totaled $33.4 million.
