World’s Top Coffee Trader Says Rally Hangs on Virus-Hit Demand
- Neumann sees tighter supply after surplus of 6.9 million bags
- CEO anticipates a stronger market for coffee futures next year
Coffee cherries after harvest on a farm in Sonsonate, El Salvador.
Photographer: Fred Ramos/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The world’s largest coffee trader is expecting prices to rise next year as supplies tighten, but all of that depends on how pandemic-hit demand recovers from the “imponderables” of the coronavirus.
In a rare interview, Neumann Kaffee Gruppe’s Chief Executive Officer David Neumann said the fate of the coffee market relied on easing of restrictions that shut down coffee shops from Paris to Los Angeles and cut consumption for the first time in more than two decades. Demand is set to rise 0.9% in the current season after contracting 1.3% in the prior period, the trader forecasts.