DON'T PANIC, coffee-drinkers. But Brazil is facing an epic drought, having just wrapped up one of the driest months on record — and the bad news could be making its way right into your (empty) coffee cup.
Brazil is the world's largest producer of coffee by far, but this year the drought and hot temperatures have been hitting coffee crops hard. And, it could be a harbinger of bad things to come — sugar production is also being hit by the drought. The Guardian reports:
There are also concerns that climate change could limit supplies, with some pointing to Brazil's drought as evidence of more extreme weather becoming the norm . . . The situation could worsen for those who like sugar with their coffee. The drought in Brazil, the world's biggest producer of sugar, is disrupting plans for harvesting sugar cane. Futures prices for sugar are at nearly the highest level in two months.
Of course, coffee roasters tend to have coffee beans for a few months on hand in advance, so the shortage in supplies may not become a problem right away. Still, the price of coffee beans has surged up, jumping up 50% already this year, and if that drought doesn't end soon, we might be facing a very bad year for coffee-drinkers.
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