The Coffee Exchange of New York

 

COFFEE EXCHANGE OF THE CITY OF N. Y.

MAY

1

1900

The Coffee Exchange of the City of New York was established so importers could protect themselves against changes in the price of Brazilian Arabica coffee. Its establishment in 1882 followed the so-called "coffee crash" of 1881, in which several companies tried unsuccessfully to corner the market on coffee.

Home of the Coffee Exchange, 113-117 Pearl Street, New York

Photo c.1900

From The Coffee Market,  by G. G. Huebner, PhD:

The Coffee Exchange of the City of New York. In the fall of 1880 there was a period of two months during which the coffee trade was almost at a complete standstill. There was a large accumulation of coffee in the port warehouses and the traders of the interior were fully supplied. Prices varied between sales as much as three cents per pound or $4.25 per bag. The first coffee exchange was then organized at Havre in 1881, and in the same year the New York Coffee Exchange was incorporated. It operated until 1885, when its property was by resolution of the governing committee transferred to the present Coffee Exchange of the City of New York. As stated in its charter its purposes shall be to provide, regulate and maintain a suitable building, room or rooms for the purchase  and sale of coffees and other similar grocery articles in the city of New York, to adjust controversies between members, to inculcate and establish just and equitable principles in the trade, to establish and maintain uniformity in its rules, regulations, and usages, to adopt standards of classification, to acquire, preserve, and disseminate useful and valuable business information, and generally to promote the above mentioned trade in the city of New York, increase its amount, and augment the facilities with which it may be conducted.