Coffee can be a challenging crop—whether it’s grown here in Hawai‘i or anywhere else in the world. And while local farmers are battling the borer beetle…in parts of Asia, the enemy is the weather. HPR’s Bill Dorman has more in today’s Asia Minute.
Hawai‘i is the only state that grows coffee…but the crop flourishes in several locations around the world. Brazil is the top producer and exporter…and Latin American coffee crops stretch from Colombia to Mexico. African beans thrive from Ethiopia and Ivory Coast to Uganda. Major coffee producers in Asia include Indonesia, Vietnam, and India—and this is where some trouble may lie when it comes to the harvest later this year.
Drought and heat have shriveled plantations in India’s southwestern state of Karnataka, home to more than two-thirds of the country’s coffee crop. India’s Economic Times quotes the chairman of the local growers’ association as saying the moisture in the soil is evaporating….calling the situation “unprecedented.” Bloomberg does the comparison with historical data and says India’s harvest of mostly robusta beans may hit a 19-year low.
Vietnam’s coffee crop also faces dire conditions because of its worst drought in nearly a century. Reuters quotes the chairman of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association as saying the country’s coffee exports could plunge by 25% this year. Brokers say it’s still too early to tell the precise impact on global coffee prices—and how long that impact may last.
