Fears have now grown about future supplies in top grower Brazil after a lengthy dry spell earlier this year. That’s in addition to worries about output in Vietnam — the largest producer of the cheaper robusta bean — after its key coffee belt suffered from dryness during the growing period and heavy rains arrived at the start of harvest.
Coffee hit a record high in New York, on mounting worries over a global supply crunch that have made it one of the year’s hottest commodities.
Futures for the arabica variety that’s favoured in specialty brews have surged more than 80% this year amid crop setbacks in key growers, threatening to further pinch consumers’ pockets. They rose as much as 4.9% on Tuesday, touching the highest in data going back to 1972 and eclipsing a peak set that decade when a disastrous so-called Black Frost decimated Brazilian trees.
