Will Colombia's Drought Push Coffee Prices Up?

 | Feb 10, 2016 08:20AM ET

Drought in Columbia

Brazil has cut its coffee export in January 2016 by 8.8% compared to the January last year and by 16.5% compared to last December. Market participants worry the crops in Colombia may suffer due to the droughts. Will this push the coffee prices up?

Three weeks ago coffee hit a fresh 2-year low and now its prices are struggling for growth. According to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. It has been contracting for two weeks having reached the 4-week low. This week many coffee producers are on holidays due to the carnival in Brazil and the Lunar New Year in Vietnam. Some market participants believe the prices fell on Friday and Monday due to the pre-festive sales. Their further dynamics will depend on the weather in Latin America and Vietnam which are the main regions of coffee production. This January Colombia increased its production by 4% compared to the same period of 2015, and by 16% to 14.2mln 60kg bags since February 2015 to January 2016. These data are already priced in. The drought and the probable revision down of the crops outlook may push prices up. According to the polls, the majority of the markets participants expect the 3mln bags deficit of coffee in the global markets in 2015/16 season which is to last till this September. If the forecast comes true, it will be the first deficit since 2009/10 when the prices rose almost threefold.