Coffee at highest price in 47 years

Coffee beans hit their highest price in 47 years, driven by bad weather in Vietnam and Brazil, the biggest producers of robusta and arabica beans respectively.

Brazil saw its worst drought in 70 years this year followed by heavy rains, raising fears that next season’s output will drop, further pinching already tight global supplies. Vietnam has itself had three years of low output.

Arabica beans hit $3.18 a pound on Wednesday, leading Nestlé, the world’s biggest coffee company, to increase prices. As well as climate concerns, future prices are being raised by worries about tariffs: Roasters “will try to import now, because otherwise you will be paying tariffs later,” one trade analyst told the Financial Times.