4 5 1 4 1 2 1 . Climate shocks in Brazil and shipping bottlenecks daily harvest price pushed the price of coffee beans sharply higher.
Starbucks says it won’t be affected for more than a year, but small cafes can’t hold off that long. The cost of the beans that they import has soared this year, leaving roasters anguishing over whether their customers, from grocery stores to cafes to people looking for their daily latte, will tolerate higher prices. Extreme weather has damaged crops in Brazil, the world’s largest coffee exporter. On top of pandemic-related shipping bottlenecks and political protests that stalled exports from Colombia, that has pushed the cost of beans up nearly 43 percent in 2021. It’s not yet a problem for Starbucks or Nestlé, coffee giants that buy their supplies far in advance and won’t have to deal with the price gains for a year or more. But some smaller roasters have already had to raise prices, and others expect to — all the while worried about alienating consumers. Quincy Henry, a co-owner of Campfire Coffee in Tacoma, Wash.
March 2020 as the pandemic began. It’s got me thinking about how we’re going to survive. Henry might have to raise prices or cut costs somewhere else, such as using cheaper supplies to roast coffee. Quincy Henry, who owns the shop with his wife, Whitni.
Behind that increase is a run-up in the price of beans that will be delivered to roasters months from now. 2 at the end of July, the highest since 2014. 40 in late April, as weeks of political protests rocked Colombia, the world’s third-largest coffee exporter. Colombia’s exports have since rebounded, but those from other large producers, like Vietnam, have been slowed by shipping bottlenecks as the global economy struggles to reopen after a year of lockdowns. A shortage of shipping containers has restricted exports, analysts say, and led to a sharp rise in the cost of shipping, too. Jeff Taylor, a co-owner of Bird Rock Coffee Roasters in San Diego, said shipping bottlenecks had delayed his usual purchase of specialty arabica beans from El Salvador by nearly a month and a half.
So he has had to buy smaller amounts of coffee in the United States as a temporary solution. Taylor hasn’t raised prices yet, but he expects he may by the end of the year. The big question is what will happen to the supply from Brazil. The country, which annually exports 34 million bags of coffee beans on average, has been hit with a series of climate shocks — a drought and plunging temperatures. Temperatures last month fell below 27 degrees Fahrenheit, about half what’s normal and the kind of cold that can damage or even kill coffee trees. Kevon Rhiney, assistant professor in Rutgers University’s department of geography, where he specializes on the coffee industry.
