In February the price of coffee has the highest monthly rise since 1997

The drought that damaged much of the coffee producing areas of Brazil in recent months changed the course of the international bean market in February. Report released on Thursday, 13, the International Coffee Organization (ICO) shows that concern about the lack of rain in Brazil caused the price of the product to rise 24.4% in February in the international market. With this, the coffee recorded the highest monthly increase since May 1997.
According to ICO composite indicator price calculated by the organization closed last month at 137.81 cents per pound. "The average price of coffee has risen about 20% between 30 January and 10 March in the face of on-going drought in Brazil and uncertainty about the crop of 2014/15," says the report released in London.
Among different kind of coffee, Brazilian beans (Brazilian Naturals) recorded a high of 30.5% in February compared to January (to 148.74 cents per pound) and Colombian Milds advanced 29.6% (to 172.22 cents).
"The rally in prices has been driven by the severe drought in Brazil, where various coffee growing regions have received little or no rain in the months of January and February, critical to the development period," said the report from ICO. The lack of rain in Brazil "has generated considerable concern around the global harvest of 2014/15." "Now, we may be heading for a deficit production in relation to demand," adds the report.
Despite the sharp rise in prices, the entity representing the world's producers of beans notes that the recent high only recovered the losses of recent months and now, coffee has seen comparable price in November 2012. " So there is still a long way to the peak reached in 2011," says the organization. Another observation made by the organization is that the rise and fall of prices is not positive for the market. "The considerable volatility in recent months appears not benefit coffee producers or consumers," says the organization.
Source: Revista Cafeicultura