World’s Top Coffee Crop Shrinks in a Market Thirsty for Supply
- Yield losses from Brazil’s bad weather is higher than expected
- Lower arabica supply may keep global prices high for consumers
Farmers check on coffee plants near Caconde, Brazil.
Photographer: Jonne Roriz/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Arabica farmers in Brazil, the world’s top exporter, are seeing bigger-than-expected losses for a coffee crop that already had setbacks due to freakish weather, bringing lower yields that threaten to extend a global supply crunch.
Luis Fernando Ferreira da Silva, a grower in Brazil’s top producing Minas Gerais state, expected this season’s crop to be cut by more than half after drought and frost hit his farm last year. He initially expected to reap 8,000 60-kilogram bags, but later slashed his estimate to 3,500 bags. Things ended up even worse.