Government Squeezes Coffee Producers Out With Price Controls

Colombian coffee roaster and coffee shop operator Café Oma has revealed that its sales in Venezuela have been hit by a decision to apply pricing regulations to speciality coffee. Price regulations for regular coffee were introduced by the Hugo Chavez-led Venezuelan government earlier in the decade, but up until recently speciality coffees, including organic and decaffeinated varieties, were not subject to pricing restrictions. This extension of price controls, with speciality coffee now having to be sold at for the same price as regular coffee, is likely to accelerate state control of the market as higher-end producers, which previously managed to

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