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Show 6F The Silt Lake Tribune Blue Mountain Dlen J Is Chic Drink Sunday, Jaly 15, 1984 M A :u; Sgi&l AjJfc' 'AS y& 'p?fy,ASt r $Eli . f' rx -- Yoshiaki Kawashima, left, plantation manager Takuzo Shio show nt By Charles J. Hanley Associated Press Writer If price IRISH TOWN, Jamaica is any guide, the coffee that grows in Jamaica's misty Blue Mountains is, at (20-plper pound, the worlds finest But it's not for Americans. The Japanese got here first The Rising Sun flag flutters high over Craighton House, a pink hilltop mansion commanding one of Jamaicas prime coffee estates. At the docks in nearby Kingston, 90 percent of the Blue Mountain crop is being shipped to Japan. And now the Tokyo government is pouring (26 million into a drive to expand Blue Mountain acreage. Doesnt Meet Demand To the Japanese, theres something very special about Blue Mountain coffee. But there isnt enough to meet the demand, said Takuzo Shio, local manager for Ueshima Coffee Co., the Japanese coffee giant that bought Craighton House Estate three years ago. fm Associated Agro-consulta- Japanese Love Jamaican Coffee Press Laserphoto off Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee plant. Japanese pay over $20 per pound for it. The greatest tribute to Blue Mountains quality is paid by its imitators. Zahars Deli in upper Manhattan, one of New Yorks premier retail out- paying the price, they say, by all means buy it" In tenerations past, British and Canadian coffee merchants did the buying. But about 20 years ago, the Japanese moved in, bidding up the price and dominating the Blue Mountain bean market The Craighton House Estate, bought by Ueshima in 1981, spreads over a highland landscape of red hibiscus and iridescent-gree- n hummingbirds, of giant mahogany trees and white coffee-ros- e bushes. You can grow anything here, said Yoshiaki Kawashima, an amiable Ueshima who tells new acquaintances, Just call me Jose a vestige of his years in El Salvadors coffee country. The coffee here is very good, Kawashima said, but technically Jamaica is not so advanced. The technique is antique. Were trying to improve it Increase Acreage Craighton House and two other Blue Mountain estates by Ueshima now have 300 acres planted with coffee. Ueshimas plan is to increase that to 1,000 acres within a few years, in part by terracing the hillsides. But the bigger Blue Mountain expansion plan is one jointly sponsored by the Japanese and Jamaican governments a (47 million program to add 3,500 acres to the Blue Mountain crop through loans to small Jamaican coffee farmers. The Jamaicans say this expansion should make more coffee available to the U.S. market But the Japanese appetite probably will be undiminished. At Expo 85, a world exposition planned for the Tokyo area next year, Ueshima is erecting a towering, pyramid-shaped pavilion, representing the peak of Blue Mountain in Jamaica and impressing the Jamaican brew still more on the Japanese lets for coffee, is selling Blue Mountain Style coffee at (5.98 a pound. Sol Zabar acknowledges there are no Blue Mountain beans in it, but says theres a mystique about Blue Mountain. (3.50 a Cup In Tokyo coffee shops, people are willing to pay (3.50 for a cup of that mystique. If a young guy wants to impress his date, he buys her Blue Mountain, Shio said. What makes it special? The experts credit a combination of the right soil and the right amount of trade winds rainfall And it must have something to do with the cool blue mists that descend over these hills, they say. Certified Blue Mountain coffee comes only from the slopes of a mountain chain, dominated by 7,402-foBlue Mountain, at the eastern end of this Caribbean island. Only a tenth of Jamaicas 3 million-poun- d annual coffee crop is Blue Mountain grade. Slopes n The beans are handby laborers who picked in mid-yeoften work at a angle, leaning into the slopes. Even the experts differ when it comes to trying to describe the taste of Blue Mountain. It has a meaty, beef-brot- h taste, ventured Zabar. The body is heavier than others. Japanese Domination Joel and Karl Schapira, in their standard Book of Coffee and Tea, say of Blue Mountain, This coffee is and extremely mellow, sweet-tastin- g delightfully aromatic. If you can find it and dont mind er nt 38-mi- le ot Economists Say High Inflation Will Not Return By Peter T. Kilborn New York Times Writer WASHINGTON Remarkably, in the face of the economys continued rapid growth, the stubbornly high inflation that blighted the American economy for more than a decade has dissipated, and a vast majority of the nations economists see little reason for it to return for as far as they can , predict into the 1980s. Prices continue to rise, of course, but at lower rates than the country has seen since the 1960s. Some experts say the United States period may have entered a long-live-d of disinflation in which a broad range of prices would increase at a rate significantly slower than in the past Economists attribute this slowing of inflation partly to the determination of the Federal Reserve to disby restraincourage rising prices ing growth of the money supply, starving demand for credit and leteven at the ting interest rates soar cost of the long 1981-8- 2 recession. - eclectic policy, watching the performance of the over-a- ll economy and interest rates as well as the money supply. But in most economists view, it has maintained enough pressure on the growth of the money supply to counteract the inflationary forces that they say are inherent in the rapid growth of the federal budget deficit as well as in the over-al- l quantity of money in circulation. The strong dollar has also been a major factor in containing inflation, according to economists. The dollars strength makes American exports, which must be purchased in dollars, more expensive for other countries. In turn, it gives for- - merchants say the price of copper scrap has now dipped so low below 50 cents a pound that scrap are not selling it. According to industry experts, in an expanding economy, industry often hoards commodities in anticipation of higher prices later. But to carry their inventories, they have to borrow. With the prime interest rate now at 13 percent, industry has been reluctant to make such investments. Growing Production Capacity Because of a growing production capacity and reduced usage through energy efficiency throughout the world, upward pressure on oil prices has dissipated and oil now sells on the . Most economists credit the Federal Reserve with wringing inflation out of the economy, beginning soon after President Carter appointed Paul A. Volcker chairman of the Fed in the summer of 1979. That October the Fed changed its policies from trying to control inflation by regulating interest rates to managing growth of the money supply. Convergence Economists also cite the fortuitous convergence of several other forces- - the surprising strength of the dollar, softening prices for vital raw materials such as oil, food and other commodities, a low level of wage increases, and deregulation of such industries as airlines and telecommunications. As a result, all the gauges of inflation have slowed markedly. The Consumer Price Index rose at an annual rate of only 3.6 percent for the three months through May, lower even than the 3.8 percent rate for last year. The government expects a still broader gauge, the implicit price deflator of the gross national product, which measures all prices in the economy, not just those paid by consumers, to increase at only a 2.8 percent rate in the second quarter. Producer prices did not rise at all in April and May. In 1979, by contrast, consumer prices climbed 13.3 percent and the other indexes rose almost as much. Highly Inertial Process Inflation is a highly inertial process, said William Nordhaus, professor of economics at Yale and an adviser to President Jimmy Carter in 1977-7It will go along at whatever rate it has been going along at until it's shocked to a different level From 1973 to 1980, we had 6 to 9 percent inflation built into the wage and price system, Nordhaus continued. We had monthly rates of IS percent in 1979. It was built into contracts. It was built into expectations. The recession beat it down to 5 percent, and we now have a lower inerry ry eign companies a considerable price advantage in the United States. Imports have therefore surged, producing a trade deficit this year that is likely to reach a record (110 billion to (120 billion. The surge in imports, economists say, discourages American industry from raising prices. Assortment of Factors An assortment of factors has tended to keep commodity prices stable, a significant factor in lower over-a- ll prices. As with other imports, prices of raw materials from abroad are automatically cheaper because of the strong dollar. TTiis helps keep down production costs, relieving the importing companies need to raise prices. The debts of the developing countries, especially those of Latin America, also put pressure on commodity prices. To make interest payments on their loans, said Edward Yardeni, Secueconomist at Prudential-Bach- e rities, they have to scramble for foreign exchange. So theyre selling their commodities, sometimes at a 8. loss. Led to Overproduction Their efforts have led to overproduction in such commodities as copper and aluminum, keeping prices down worldwide. Although aluminum producers in the United, States, for example, have a posted price of 80 to 85 cents a pound, metal merchants are willing to sell it at 50 to 53 cents a pound because of the abundant supply and lackluster demand. High American interest rates also help keep commodity prices down, economists say, Copper scrap, an ese commodity, pecially fell from 59 cents a pound last August to 55 cents last April according to James R. Solloway of Argus Research Corp. in New York, Metal tial rate. Most economists credit the Federal Reserve with wringing inflation out of the economy, beginning soon after President Carter appointed Paul A. Volcker chairman of the Fed in the summer of 1979. That October the Fed changed its policies from trying to control inflation by regulating interest rates to managing growth of the money supply. The Fed has since shifted to a more price-sensitiv- spot market for about 50 cents below the floor price of (29 a barrel set by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in March 1983. Wednesday, OPEC announced at its regular semiannual meeting that the floor price for oil would remain the same. As a result of the oil glut, gasoline prices, an important expense for most consumers, have been easing. Daniel Lundberg, publisher of an industry newsletter, said the average price of a gallon of gasoline has dropped from (1.35 in June 1981 to (1.20 last month. To the surprise of some economists, the hostilities this year in the Persian Gulf may have contributed to the decline in oil prices. Spot prices almost immediately started to go up, Lundberg said, but almost as quickly some members of OPEC figured the hostilities relieved them of sticking to the fixed production limits they had agreed to. They said the heck with it and raised their production. Then spot prices settled as quickly as they had risen. Food Prices Ease Food prices have been easing, too. One reason is the impact of some of the other forces. The high dollar has discouraged exports of American farm products, leading to domestic surpluses and lower prices. Domestic food prices spurted in 1982 and 1983 after a severe drought and introduction of the Reagan Adry ministrations n, . K . late 1982. Tree-Blanket- blue-gree- ar mind. Wellness Programs on the Rise health abuses go undetected at the office because the programs are voluntary. In fact, the General Accounting Office, in its latest report to Congress on the health of the nations work force, estimated that only 2 percent of the employees being offered EAP services actually use them. Continued From Page F-- 4 growth of employee assistance programs (EAPs), which in the last decade have grown to cover 10 million workers at 5,000 sites around the country. With insurance companies increasmediingly covering cal facilities, such as alcohol treatment centers or outpatient hospital care, and more and more states requiring that insurance contracts provide some coverage for outpatient alcohol and drug-abus- e treatment, the growth in all kinds of EAPs is expected to continue. free-standi- The report also called 20 percent of the working population troubled workers, with half of them showing behavioral or emotional problems while the other half were either alcoholics or drug abusers. The number of alcoholics and drug abusers in the workplace is extremely high, much higher than we thought, said Bob Rosen, a consultant to the Washington Business Group on Health and an assistant clinical professor of psychology at George Washington School of Medicine. But theyre not using the EAPs because oftentimes people in organizations collude to protect employees from being identified as having a problem. If companies want to make their EAP work, they will have to be more cognizant about the ethical implications and consequences of de- As early as the 1920s, a handful of companies offered these programs, and the history books are packed with instances of firms, such as Ford, firing unionized employees based on their personal histories. Only 10 years ago, in hearings before the U.S. Department of Labor, steel producers also were charged by the United Steelworkers with using employee assistance programs as a management tool to destroy the onion. Nevertheless, employers, both now ofunionized and fering such health assistance programs include AT&T, Cigna Corp., Ford Motor Co., the state of California, New England Telephone Co., United Technologies Corp., Xerox Corp., General Motors Corp., and Citicorp. Their programs vary considerably, but in general they offer employees behavior modification, fitness evaluations, medical treatment, stress management or nutritional and exercise seminars. Companies want to detect a potential health problem in the early stages so it can be treated, said Steven C. Nahrwold, a second vice president and manager of the employee counseling service and professional development division at Continental Illinois National Bank in Chicago. The problem is that its very hard to detect an alcoholic or a drug abuser without being perceived as pryAs a result, he said, most ing. signing and implementing these EAPs and wellness programs. An employees productivity is by far the most common way that companies operate their EAPs. Ours is strictly performance-base- Since the inception six years ago of the Cigna program, which has grown to cover 30,000 employees at 70 locations, only 6 percent of the employees use the facilities every year. Still Sapp said, the program saves Cigna costs for every (1 (3 in health-car- e spent on rehabilitation. "Companies have demonstrated over and over again that these EAPs do save money, said Dick Groepper,. director of employee assistance serCrawford & vices at Atlanta-base- d Co., risk management consultants. Semi-Annual- ly American Investment Bank has savings programs to fit your needs. Our Interest rates are competitive, and our programs give you flexibility when choosing savings accounts. In addition your account Is Insured to $ 00,000 by the FDIC. Call or come in to American Investment Bank for all the details. 1 AMERICAN INVESTMENT BANK, N. A. Crossroads Tower 50 South Main, Suite 460 type of fun house, its windows covered, is open on a segregated basis to men or women on alternate nights. A Salt Lake City, Utah 84144 801-322-33- i I 800-453-94- a direct subsidiary of Leucadla, Inc., with assets of over $500.000, oOO'DO. Lilted NYSE Established 1854. AIB Is FDIC DEPOSITS INSURED TO $100,000 BY THE FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION. Penalty for early withdrawal. Money Market Accounts 52500 And Up: 10.5 No penalty for withdrawal. A but still nas employee assistance program. n At the mall, stores like Hallmark and Dairy Queen are surrounded by small shops that sell an odd assortment of perfumes, toiletries, cameras and neckties. There is a store, several toy China stores, the very popular Town, which sells Chinese imported gift items, and a string of clothing and cloth stores in a back corridor labeled the Womens Section. d, one of our biggest concerns is main-- , taining confidentiality, said Chuck Sapp, assistant vice president of Cig- Certificate Accounts Compounded kets catering to mostly Western shoppers and shopping centers are filled with virtually every consumer product anyone could want and depend on expatriates for more than half their business. Overall retail business appears to have been hurt somewhat by the proliferating number of new malls and the dozens of existing shopping centers combined with the effects of the oil glut, which has slowed government spending and shrunk the expatriate workforce. long-distan- TIME DEPOSITS Malls Come to Saudi Arabia Continued From Page F-- 5 for half an hour four times a day at sunset roughly noon, and midevening, leaving shoppers, both Western and Saudi, to wander window-shoppin- g through the mall. Sales clerks painstakingly black out the uncovered arms and bosoms of the women pictured on boxes of cosmetics and toiletries, and the ice cream truck in the parking lot sells its wares from a womens side and a mens side. Groups of white-robe- d Saudi teen-ag- e boys wander the mall gawking at Westerners and Filipinos in blue jeans and jogging suits. Saudi women, veils covering their faces, step delicately onto the malls escalators, careful to keep their long, the black cape-lik- e flowing abayas which in garment they cloak themselves from head to toe from catching in the moving stairs. Such malls and the dozens of new shopping centers and Western supermarkets such as A&P and Safeway have made profound changes In Saudi buying habits. Disposable diapers have become a popular consumer Item. Supermar- - pro- payment-in-kin- d gram, which encouraged farmers to cut production. But the program has ended, and prices have remained at 1983 levels so far this year. Now, with production rising again, Sarah Johnson, an economist at Data Resources Inc. in Cambridge, Mass., expects prices to ease by the end of the year and to fall next year. More important in many economists views is the low level of wage increases during the recovery, mostly because of competitive pressures. Wage givebacks occurred in such industries as steel automobiles, tires, airlines and meatpacking. The Bureau of Labor Statistics employment cost index, a measure of private industry wages and salaries, rose 9 percent in 1980 and 8.8 percent in 1981. By the year ended September 1983, it dropped to 5 percent and remained there through March. Gains in Productivity Because of gains in productivity, industrys overall labor costs have been virtually flat, according to Joel Popkin, a consultant to the Labor Department And because the Consumer Price Index has not increased greatly, wage agreements tied to it have also been relatively stable. Deregulation of such industries as telecommunications, airlines, trucking and financial services have led to savings for consumers through competitive price cutting. For example, some air fares have been cut substantially, and discount brokerage services offered by banks and others have meant lower tfees for trading stocks. But in some cases, deregulainflation is tions effect on over-a- ll difficult to determine. For instance, deregulation in telecommunications has lowered telephone ' rates, but increased local rates. Within the American economy, economists note the absence of many important pressures that often result in rising inflation. Capacity utilizathe percentage of factory cation was 81.7 use by industry in pacity percent in May, well above the 69 percent nadir of the recession but still short of the pressure point, at 85 or 86 percent, where industries are hard put to increase production further and instead rasise prices. Gone For Good To be sure, few economists argue that high inflation is gone for good. They are paying particular attention to the auto contract talks in Detroit that could raise the level of wage increases and set a new standard for other industries. A few economists even say that despite appearances, little has changed. Geoffrey H. Moore of Columbia University, an expert on the ebbs and flows of the economys business cycle, has devised an index of future inflation that shows prices heating up to a 10 percent rate by the end of this year or early next year, largely because of pressure on wages and heavy borrowing by consumers, business and government And the students of Milton Friedmans school of monetarist economists say inflation of 7 to 10 percent by December is foretold in the way that the Federal Reserve has let the nations money supply grow since Annual Yield 11.06 |