THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, August 9, 1994                TAG: 9408090369
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: D01  EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORT 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   65 lines

LOOKING TO FUEL UP? FOR YOUR CAR, YOU MAY PAY MORE SOON. FOR YOUR JAVA JOLT, YOU MIGHT JUST BE SEEING SOME RELIEF.

If you like to drink while you drive - coffee, that is - be prepared to pay more for both simple pleasures.

The cost of a tank of gasoline has gone up nearly 10 percent in the past two weeks in part because of an oil workers' strike in Nigeria.

Coffee prices also have skyrocketed anywhere from 50 percent to 100 percent and beyond in recent weeks, say retailers, because of back-to-back freezes in Brazil and turmoil in other coffee-growing nations such as Colombia and Rwanda.

``By the beginning of next year, we anticipate that gas prices will be up at least 15 to 20 cents (a gallon) on a year-to-year basis,'' said Lawrence Goldstein, president of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation in New York.

Over the past two weeks, prices for gasoline and diesel fuel have been rising as retailers pass on their increased costs to consumers.

At a Mobil service station on Great Neck Road in Virginia Beach, the price for regular unleaded gas has risen about 5 cents to $1.09 over the past two weeks, said Rick Nickerson, a station employee.

Price fluctuations are baffling everyone from Nickerson to officials at Mobil's headquarters in Northern Virginia.

Over the past several months, crude oil prices have steadily risen because of several factors - including the demand for energy during an economic recovery and the strike in Nigeria, said John Lord, a spokesman for Mobil. But gasoline prices have lagged and some areas may be experiencing a market correction.

``There were pent-up pressures for an increase in gasoline prices,'' Lord said.

So far, local and regional AAAs say they haven't noticed any substantial increases in gasoline prices. Seasonal factors explain most of the increases, said Wallace Timmons, a spokesman for the AAA of Tidewater in Norfolk.

Coffee prices in Hampton Roads are another story.

Customers at Gloria Jean's Coffee Beans in Greenbrier Mall may not be able to buy Chocolate Cherry Kiss and Raspberry Almond if coffee bean prices keep rising, said manager Diane Russell.

``Some coffees went up 50 percent,'' Russell said. ``So, we're not reordering them.''

For retailers like Russell, relief might be on the way.

First Colony Coffee & Tea Co. Inc., a Norfolk company that roasts and sells coffee beans to about 3,500 retailers, said it would lower its own prices from $4.53 a pound to $4.08 a pound, starting today.

The company can do this because the prices for raw coffee beans are finally beginning to drop, said Michael Feldmann, vice president for sales and marketing.

In April, First Colony paid 82 cents a pound for raw coffee beans, which soared to $2.79 a pound a few weeks ago. Slowly, that price is going down. On Monday, the pricetag was $1.79 a pound. ILLUSTRATION: Color Drawings

KEYWORDS: GASOLINE PRICES

by CNB