Coffee sells well, but roasters are not happy with the competition between retailers

German coffee roasters are increasing sales as the coffee culture becomes fashionable but a retail price war puts them under huge cost pressure, the head of Germany's coffee industry association.

 "Currently brutal retail price competition is taking place," Holger Preibisch told Reuters in an interview. Discount retailers are using coffee as a cheap item to lure people into their shops. "This is putting German roasters under intense pressure," he said. The price war was taking place at a time when coffee demand was strong despite a general economic slowdown. New fashionable coffee drinks and an expanding coffee shop culture helped increase sales notably to young people, he said. "Coffee demand is firm, coffee is a strong product in the face of the crisis," Preibisch said.