It’s hard to believe that fewer than six months ago, I was sitting in a room listening to a presentation from a coffee industry “expert” who assured a room filled with office coffee professionals that even with many issues impacting coffee production in Central and South America, we should expect coffee prices to remain steady for at least the next two years.
It’s hard to believe that fewer than six months ago, I was sitting in a room listening to a presentation from a coffee industry “expert” who assured a room filled with office coffee professionals that even with many issues impacting coffee production in Central and South America, we should expect coffee prices to remain steady for at least the next two years.
Since that day, the price of coffee has increased more than 70 percent! So much for expert opinions.
We often hear about things like extreme weather conditions, such as drought, in other parts of the world; but it isn’t very often we think, “wow, this drought that Brazil is going through is really going to effect my Manhattan office coffee delivery.” Well, the truth is, it already has played a role in the cost of your Manhattan office coffee delivery, and so many other areas too.
This morning, the Wall Street Journal did a great job in explaining just how recent drought conditions in far-off places like Brazil (the World’s largest coffee producer) and Southeast Asia, and even places closer to home like Texas and California have already played a role in pushing prices of food staples like beef and dairy products much higher; not to mention Arabica Coffee which has spiked more than 71% since the end of 2013 (see the chart above from the Wall Street Journal).
What it all means to you is a higher food bill, both at home, and in the office. The article projects that during the calendar year of 2014 the annual food-price growth will be somewhere between 2.5-3.5%.
The full article is definitely worth checking out, here is the link to the article from the Tuesday, March 18, 2014 edition of the Wall Street Journal:
Food Prices Surge as Drought Exacts a High Toll on Crops
