Coffee Prices Still Through the Roof

Frost is the enemy of coffee plants. With the Brazil frost season now over uneventfully, coffee roasters (and drinkers) are breathing a sigh of relief, hoping for a drop in the sky-high wholesale prices we have suffered since the frost in Brazil last summer. So far that has not happened and in the next few weeks Coffee may even be raising prices to match the current levels.

Speculators from the financial sector jumped in after the 2021 frost anticipating shortages and that alone pushed prices even higher.

In case you are wondering, the speculators never take ownership of the coffee they have contracted to buy, they sell some time before the contract is due. They have been hoping for another frost this year and, if that doesn’t happen, for a drought in the next few months.

Why do farmers grow coffee when it is vulnerable to bad weather? Generally, they don’t but as the weather events become more extreme it is harder to avoid. But that is another story…