(NewsWorthy.news) – Vietnamese coffee plantations have been severely affected by the harshest drought in almost a decade. The difficulties faced by growers in the world’s second largest coffee producer as a result of the drought could result in a rise in prices of espresso and instant coffee.
Global warming raises concerns about the availability of coffee long-term, especially for businesses such as Starbucks who source their coffee from across the world, including east Asian countries. Since 2009 Brazil and Columbia are the leading two countries that export coffee to the US.
Starbucks announced in 2023 that it had developed six strains of coffee seeds for the arabica coffee plant, which is the source of 70% of the world’s coffee, that should be more resistant to climate change. Beans from the robusta coffee plant are the ones most commonly used to make instant coffee and espressos, however.
Vietnam together with Indonesia produced 23.4% of the world’s coffee beans in 2019. Vietnam cultivates the most robusta by a long stretch, producing 40% of the global output. The Mercantile Exchange of Vietnam has predicted a 10-16% decline in its coffee production as a result of an extreme heatwave in spring that hit the country’s Central Highlands, which is a main coffee-growing region.
Recent rain has improved growing conditions, but growers are unsure of whether the improving weather will bring robusta bean prices back down or increase coffee production. One coffee farmer, Nguyen Huu Long, said though the country’s robusta output is likely to decline by 10-15%, production is likely to increase on his 50-hectare farm in Gia Lai, which is one of the country’s leading coffee-growing regions.
Other farmers commented on methods they used to adapt to the extreme heat, such as using more water than usual and softening the soil around plants to improve water absorption.
A disappointing harvest last year and anticipation of another poor harvest following the drought in Vietnam drove up wholesale prices of robusta traded in Vietnam and London earlier in 2024. The increase in wholesale prices has so far made little difference to consumer prices. Coffee inflation in the EU rose by only 1.6% in April. In Italy, where robusta coffee is heavily relied on for espresso, coffee inflation rose by 2.5%.
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