U.S. coffee roasters scramble for Colombian supplies, prices jump
Due to recent demonstrations in Colombia, coffee processors in the United States are trying to obtain Colombian coffee inventories, as supply to the world’s top coffee consumer have been hampered.
Colombian coffee, a favourite variety of mild arabica beans among U.S. customers, is quickly running out of stock as roasters with contracts to provide grocers and coffee shops with coffee expressly branded as 100% Colombian race to obtain those bags, according to importers.
They stated that some of the Colombian coffee will be replaced with milder Central American beans, although on a lesser scale.
“It’s impossible to replace Colombians. “Big roasters have made pledges to supply such packets to supermarkets,” a coffee importer in the United States stated, adding that he has run out of the coffee in the previous few days.
Prices for Colombian coffee stored in the US climbed to up to 75 cents per pound over ICE futures on the local cash market, up from 55 to 58 cents before anti-government riots in Colombia disrupted highways and halted the flow of coffee to ports, he added.
Protests have come to a halt, but normalcy will take time to return.
“It should take 60 to 90 days,” says the expert. “There is a scarcity of Colombians in the arrivals and offloads at ports,” said Christian Wolthers, a partner at Wolthers Douque LLC, a U.S. coffee importer.
