Since 1997, coffee growers have not seen the price of coffee hit $3 per pound as reported by the International Coffee Organization.
Good prices for producers are also found in the sugar, coffee and cocoa markets in New York, where the futures’ price are sitting at around $2.71 per pound.
Despite the physical harvesting of coffee beans, the coffee producers are involved in a chess match of speculation and are not sure whether to sell or to wait until prices rise even more.
Reports published by the ICC last week pointed out that the market may face a shortage, if so the prices might increase to unknown highs.
Another factor which may contribute to a higher price is inclement weather which has affected the harvests of many of the main producers of the bean. Brazil lost an important part of its production due to the floods present at the end of last year and in other countries the aging of the land is damaging the seeds.
Coffee is the second most important stimulant drink in the world. Its cultivation employs hundreds of thousands of farmers globally in over 70 tropical countries where the coffee is sown.
Until the fourteenth century coffee cultivation was limited to small areas in provinces of Ethiopia and the Arabic Peninsula, now though, 63% of the production comes from the American Continent.
Europeans were introduced to coffee around the mid 18th century and in the beginning of the next century the drink was became very popular in Paris.
The elevated concentration of production is evident by observing that two countries in South America, Brazil and Colombia, are responsible for 49 percent of the world’s production. The African continent comes in second place.
source: http://indiepropub.com/coffee-futures-closing-in-on-1997-high-price/314169/
