DROUGHTS AND THE COFFEE BEAN

How can a drought in Vietnam affect you drinking a coffee of delicious and refreshing coffee from one of UK Vending’s top range vending machines? Quite simply Vietnam is one of the world’s largest producers of robusta coffee beans and a recent drought across the country has seen a 30 percent fall in coffee bean production. Not only is it hurting the local economy it will soon have an impact on the price we all pay for our coffee.

Over 250,000 acres of coffee trees have been wiped out according to the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association in the worst drought that Vietnam has experienced for nearly a century. Worse still the drought has been centred on the Central Highlands region where most of the 1.5 million acres of coffee trees are located.

The problems in Vietnam follow similar concerns in Brazil and Indonesia where dry conditions have had a disastrous impact on the growing season. Robusta prices have sky rocketed by over 17 percent since February and all indications point to an even steeper climb for a product that is mostly used within the instant coffee market.

It is not all doom and gloom however as the rainy season in Vietnam and Indonesia has just started and many growers expect the wet conditions to rectify the problem in due course. Sadly such rain will not be in time to rescue this year’s crop which was picked between December and February. Another consideration is that if the rain is too heavy it could damage the trees and make the green berries drop prematurely.