The world’s largest coffee bean producer, Brazil, is struggling with current harvests, and because of it, prices for a cup of morning coffee could soon skyrocket.
After enduring drought and frost last year, farmers in Brazil have found themselves struggling with their harvests this year.
According to experts, the yield from this year’s harvest of higher-end arabica coffee beans could be less than half what it typically is, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Brazil is the world’s biggest exporter in the global coffee market, and if crops this year are smaller than feared, then an international supply shortage could result in price hikes.
But the supply shortages would be worse since arabica coffee production runs in a two-year cycle with bigger crops expected in even-numbered years, the Journal reported. Meaning that next year’s crops would not be able to replace the shortages of this year.
Related
U.S. consumer price data shows that coffee bills have been on the rise over the last year as the industry struggles with supply-chain issues and high costs across the board.
José Marcos Magalhães, a coffee farmer and president of the Minasul coffee cooperative, shared that the issue is a “big crisis for us.”
“Some growers don’t even have that half that we’re asking for,” Magalhães told the Journal.
The Journal reported that analysts once predicted Brazil’s arabica crop for the 12 months starting in July would possibly hit an all-time high with farmers producing 48.7 million bags, each filled with 132 pounds of coffee.
But now, the figure looks to be 13 million bags fewer, with early forecasts from Brazil saying farmers will collect 35.7 million bags.
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Prices will only rise after the estimates for this year’s harvest of arabica beans are finished. And with bad weather also hurting major producer Colombia and its coffee industry, prices could soon spike.
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