Coffee prices increasing due to severe weather in Brazil

Global Business

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A cup of coffee in the U.S. could soon start costing you more. Wholesale coffee prices are increasing because of bad weather in Brazil, the world’s largest coffee producer.

But cafes are also dealing with price increases linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s no secret, New Yorkers love coffee. But the price of their ‘Morning Joe’ could be on the way up. Severe frosts have damaged about 10 percent of Brazil’s coffee producing area.

That prompted futures for Arabica beans to rise by nearly 30 percent last month, hitting a six-year high.

Coffee shops are now bracing for their costs to go up. But cafes are already seeing their bottom lines impacted by other rising costs.

Black Fox Coffee near Wall Street recently had to raise its prices by about five percent to cover higher labor expenses and supply chain shortages as well inflation triggered by the pandemic.

But many in the industry say people have become too used to cheap coffee prices and that underpricing has been adding to inequality in the industry.

Coffee shop owners say the cost increases linked to bad weather and the pandemic may be temporary, but higher prices for customers are likely to remain in order to help make the industry farer for producers.