Even if you haven't seen it on the shelves or at the coffee shop, you may have heard wholesale coffee prices are at a seven-year low.

A bumper crop in South and Central America has led to an oversupply that has forced down wholesale prices. The wholesale commodity price has hovered around $1 a pound for Arabica coffee, less than half what it was two years ago.

The price for a can or bag of coffee at the supermarket is down, but not nearly the same rate. According to the federal consumer price index, the average price for a pound of ground roast in September was $5.09, the lowest since March of 2011. People may have noticed that the morning cup of joe at the gas station or doughnut shop hasn't changed at all.

"The coffee companies - and we are talking some of the biggest companies in the world - have been saying the commodity prices is a smaller portion of the price on the bag or can than it was 10 or 15 years ago," said Joe Fasula, co-owner of Gerrity's Supermarket chain based in Scranton. He said they'll cite transportation costs, warehousing costs and other costs of getting coffee to the store. "I suppose I can believe it, but you are always suspicious when the benefit seems to work out in the company's favor."

Still, Mr. Fasula said coffee prices are down at Gerrity's. Buyers for the cooperative of ShurSave markets of which Gerrity's is a partner, told him that an anticipated bumper crop in Brazil will add to the global coffee glut and prices may go down further.

The coffee price collapse is certainly a boon for coffee purveyors such as Starbucks, which told investors it expected to pocket an additional $120 million in 2014 on top of more than $90 million in 2013 from the widening margin between what it pays and what it charges. Other than a slight decrease in the prices on packaged coffee, Starbucks' prices are unchanged.

Even though Mary Tellie, owner of Electric City Roasting Co., a boutique roaster in Scranton, is a buyer of coffee, she is worried about the implications of the coffee price collapse. She fears for the future of the coffee industry in the U.S. and the coffee farmers. She visits coffee-producing countries several times a year and has many direct contacts there, including farmers. She said the price collapse has caused chaos on the ground in those countries. The average farmer's cost of production is about $1.15 she said. With prices at $1, farmers are ending the growing season and selling the crop at a loss. High-end growers may give up.

Some of the coffee for blending she buys at a prices that is the commodity price plus a fixed premium. So that part of the business is looking good as commodity prices decline. But like other specialty roasters, she also purchases direct from high-quality growers she knows and trusts in long-term contracts for as much as $3.50 per pound. Right now, that price is not good. But Ms. Tellie thinks the price is fair and the deal works both ways: when commodity costs were $3.99, her grower swallowed hard and took what they agreed upon.

Too few people care about the growers, she said. That lack of concern from everyone from consumers to governments, almost guarantees improvement for many.

Contact the writer: dfalchek@timesshamrock.com