Espresso King Undercut as Brazil Currency Rout Spurs Bean Export
- Robusta-bean sales at record in Brazil as Vietnam sales drop
- Value of beans in reais rose even as world coffee price fell
Workers dump harvested coffee cherries in a truck at a plantation in the Minas Gerais state near Guaxupe, Brazil.
Photographer: Patricia Monteiro/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Your morning espresso may soon be a little more Brazilian.
U.S. processors of robusta beans used in instant coffee and espresso are buying from Brazil at an accelerated pace as they cut back on purchases from Vietnam, which grows almost half the world’s supply. In Europe, imports of the beans also have surged. That’s because farmers in the South American country, aided by a plunge in the value of their currency, are undercutting sales by the world’s largest producer even as the price of the commodity drops.