World Reserves Of Green Coffee Drop To 5-Year Low

 | Jan 23, 2018 07:47AM ET



The US reserves of green coffee fell to the 3-year low in December 2018. Will the Robusta quotes grow?

According to the Green Coffee Association (GCA), the green coffee reserves declined by almost 300 thousand bags (60 kg) in November of 2017. The decline continued in December for the fifth month in a row and amounted to 106 thousand bags more. Currently, the US green coffee reserves are 6.63 mln bags. Note that the European Coffee Federation (ECF) reported a decrease in the European coffee reserves by 5.3% in November. World green coffee reserves dropped to the 5-year low of 29.3 mln bags at the end of the last year. The main reason for this was the weak coffee crop in Brazil because of the drought in 2017. The crop was only 45 mln bags. This year the coffee crop is expected to grow to 54.5-58.5 mln bags. Of these, Robusta coffee crop may amount to about 13 mln bags, compared to 10.7 mln in 2017. Coffee quotes may strongly depend on the weather. Note that Arabica coffee is by more than 1.5 times more expensive than Robusta coffee. Theoretically, the closing in of their prices may increase Robusta coffee quotes.