Dec 14, 2019

Investors react to Brazil's plummeting coffee reserves

In this image, coffee beans are turned over in a larger container

Brazilian coffee beans in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Christophe Simon/AFP via Getty Images

Brazil, the world's largest coffee producer, could reach its steepest drop in coffee reserves since U.S. government records began in 1962, according to new Department of Agriculture projections reported by Bloomberg.

The big picture: Hedge funds and other money managers are taking their net-bullish holdings on arabica coffee to their highest levels since 2016, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed Friday. A "bigger biennial crop in 2020-21 in Brazil may bring relief to supplies," Bloomberg notes — but 60% of wild coffee species worldwide were found to be in danger of extinction earlier this year.

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