Plenty of Supply...of Coffee Speculators

High prices of coffee are giving beans to coffee addicts and aficionados alike...

Starbucks chief renews blame on coffee speculators: "

Starbucks Coffee Co Chief Executive Howard Schultz once again laid the blame for surging coffee prices on speculators, saying his chain had no problem getting beans. Arabica coffee futures have rallied over the past nine months to a 34-year high this month at $2.9665 per lb, basis second position. The market initially climbed on fund buying but was sustained by tight supplies of washed beans. Many analysts expect it will soon climb to $3 per lb. “Every supplier that I talk to, every producer, first thing I ask is, ‘Is there any problem with supply and demand?’” Schultz said. They tell him no, he said. Global stocks are at the lowest level since the International Coffee Organization began keeping records in 1965. The ICO has said stocks could fall lower. “I think it's artificial. I think financial speculation has really stepped into the market,” Schultz said at the National Coffee Association meeting on Friday. Coffee consumers will not “respond positively” to higher coffee prices, Schultz added.

One more reason to cut down on coffee

Starbucks raises grocery packaged coffee prices | Chicago Breaking Business: "Starbucks raised its price for grocery packaged coffee on Friday by 12 percent, on average, due to still climbing coffee commodity prices.

The increase affects both Starbucks and Seattle’s Best Coffee brands and is the company’s first price increase on grocery packaged coffee since March 2008.

“Given the significant and sustained increase in the price of coffee in the commodities market, we determined we could no longer fully absorb the costs and needed to take action at this time,” the company said in a statement.

The Seattle-based coffee company last year raised prices on some drinks in its cafes, but held the line on grocery shelves.

Meanwhile, Kraft Foods on Thursday raised its list prices for most of its Maxwell House and Yuban roast coffees by 22 percent, its fourth and biggest increase in the past year. Rival J.M. Smucker Co hiked its price for Folgers by 10 percent last month.

“We continue to carefully monitor and evaluate green coffee prices and are responding with pricing adjustments that balance our need to run the business effectively while providing maximum value,” Starbucks said."

Blues at Big Blue

SEC sues IBM over alleged bribes - Yahoo! Finance: "SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- IBM Corp. has agreed to pay $10 million to settle allegations that it bribed South Korean and Chinese government officials for more than a decade to win contracts.

The Securities and Exchange Commission accused the technology company of making roughly half that amount in profit from the behavior.

Managers at an IBM subsidiary and joint venture allegedly paid $207,000 in bribes to South Korean officials from 1998 to 2003. From 2004 until 2009, more than 100 IBM employees in China provided improper overseas trips, entertainment and other gifts for officials, the SEC alleged."

Scrambling for Talent in the Land of Plenty (of people)

Joining bonuses up 35% in hiring frenzy

Business school placements have thrown up many surprises this year. Not only have average salaries gone up this year, but joining bonuses - which had almost disappeared in 2009, thanks to the slowdown - are back. And in a much more robust way. These bonuses, also called confirmation, guaranteed or completion bonus, have gone up by almost 35% since last year. With a lock-in period of one to three years, these bonuses are once again being used to attract and retain people on the back of a revived economy and fierce competition for good people.

Companies such as Nomura, HSBC, Accenture, Deloitte Consulting, Parthenon Group, HUL, Reckitt Benckiser, PepsiCo, Mphasis, ICICI Bank, Amazon, Deutsche Bank, Citibank, Lenovo, Pepsi are offering joining bonuses ranging between Rs 50,000 and Rs 400,000 at the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), ISB, XLRI, Jamshedpur and Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, among others. This is over and above the salary offered to students.

According to officials at IIM-Kozhikode, there has been an increase in the number of companies offering joining bonuses - many of which are woven into the compensation structure -- as well as an increase in the size of the joining bonus itself. This is true across various verticals, like finance, marketing, IT and consulting.

Institutes say the frenetic hiring by companies across sectors, and competition within organisations, is driving such bonuses upwards. "In the same sector, if your competitor is offering a joining bonus, you will have to consider it too. Otherwise, in a good job market, students may not even come to you," says Prof Prashant Salwan, placements chairman at IIM Indore.