Brazil's coffee belt grapples with rare threat: dry heat

[knocker]

Coffee shortage - a crisis definitely looms.

 

 

In Brazil's coffee belt, frost has long been the biggest risk for farmers and commodities traders alike. But after years of migrating to warmer regions, farmers here now find themselves scrambling to overcome an unusual phenomenon: blistering heat.

 

January was the hottest and driest month on record in much of southeastern Brazil, punishing crops in the country's agricultural heartland and sending commodities prices sharply higher in global markets. As signs emerged that the world's largest coffee crop was withering, futures prices shot up 26 percent over a seven-day stretch to a nine-month high.

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/12/brazil-coffee-drought-idUSL2N0LH0DZ20140212

 

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/02/25/coffee_shortage_caused_by_brazilian_drought.html

Edited February 25, 2014 by knocker