Fiebre mundial del café: los precios de los futuros subieron un 15% en mayo
A raíz del nuevo brote, la industria de alimentos y bebidas de todo el mundo se ha visto afectada. El fenómeno de verter leche, enrollar verduras y cortar flores es a la vez sorprendente y lamentable. Pero hay un tipo de comida que resulta inesperadamente ganadora.
Café: en una época de aislamiento global y horarios prolongados de oficina en casa, la demanda está contrarrestando la tendencia e incluso los consumidores de café están acumulando existencias.
Demand rose as consumers rushed to grab a coffee. Arabica coffee on the ICE futures exchange has surged 20 percent to $1.20 a pound since the start of Fe+bruary, making it one of the world's best-performing commodities.
El contrato de Café C, el punto de referencia para el café arábigo de alta calidad, ronda actualmente los 117 dólares.
El costo del café aumentó un 34,6 por ciento en Francia y un 29,5 por ciento en Italia en comparación con el mismo período del año pasado, según IRI, un investigador de mercado con sede en Chicago.
According to Google Trends, "Dalgona coffee" has become the most searched coffee type in the world, surpassing all other coffee records. Global searches rose 1,800% in mid-march and another 1,700% in mid-April.
Most experts attribute the rise in coffee prices to a "short-term panic buying effect" at supermarkets.
But with most shoppers already backlogged, coffee demand is likely to ease in the coming weeks. Philip Searle, a senior coffee trader in PRWakefield, said: "at the supermarket, everyone was buying it in bulk and it was a peak but it's back to normal now."
Philip Searle added: "The rise in demand has lasted only a month and it is surprising whether it will continue."
ICO also released a report last week on how the new outbreak will affect the global coffee industry. Despite the industry's overall steady growth, coffee prices have continued to fall since 2016, dropping 30 percent from the average price over the past decade, as the report shows.
And an increase in coffee consumption at home would offset a drop in spending by outside retailers. "Lower household incomes could lead to less demand for coffee. In addition, price-sensitive consumers may replace high-value coffees with lower-value blends or brands."
Los analistas advierten que la demanda de granos podría caer debido a la recesión mundial a finales de este año.
Jose dorster Sette, executive director of the international coffee organization, warned Markets Insider on Wednesday: "our model predicts a 1% drop in GDP will lead to a 0.95% drop in coffee consumption."