But some of its beans, known as unwashed or 'natural' arabicas, have not previously been used for high-end benchmark coffee contracts around the world. Unwashed coffee is so-called because its fruit is left to dry whole before the bean is extracted. He added that relatively little Brazilian coffee ends up in ICE warehouses because it usually fetches higher prices in the physical markets. The two companies declined to comment on whether they had got a mix of semi-washed and unwashed beans certified by ICE. Zooming out to inflation adjusted terms however, coffee prices in 1980 were equivalent to about $8 per lb - a whopping 500% higher than they are today, according to Reuters calculations.

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Persons: Juan Carlos Ulate, Dagoberto Suazo, unwashed, Marcio Ferreira, Cecafe, Ferreira, Louis Dreyfus, Pedro Mendoza, Maytaal Angel, Gustavo Palencia, Marcelo Teixeira, Frank Jack Daniel Our Organizations: Workers, REUTERS, LONDON, Agricultural, Intercontinental Exchange, Reuters, Producers, IF IT, ICE, Central, Thomson Locations: Grecia, Costa Rica, TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, Brazil, America, Africa, Cafetaleras, Colombia, Central America, Peru, Europe, Swiss, Sucafina, U.S, London, Tegucigalpa, New York