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Keurig deal gives coffee traders jitters about longer payment term

Published Wed, Dec 9, 2015 · 09:50 PM

New York

THE steady drip of additions to JAB Holding Co's coffee empire is threatening to leave a bitter taste for traders who supply its growing network of roasters with beans, who say they now have little choice but to wait unusually long to get paid.

After being purchased by JAB - the investment vehicle of the billionaire Reimann family - roasters ranging from US specialty chain Peet's Coffee & Tea to European mass market conglomerate Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE) increased their net financing terms to 120 days or more, up from an industry standard of 30 days or less, more than a dozen industry sources told Reuters.

That means the middlemen who buy beans from places like Brazil and Colombia and sell them to Peet's, JDE and other JAB-owned roasters have to wait four months or more after delivering the beans to be paid for them. Other roasters that …

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