LONDON: Global coffee prices plunged on Friday after US President Donald Trump removed 40 percent tariffs on imports of Brazilian agricultural products.
US retail coffee prices rose an annual 40 percent in September, due in part to tariffs. Rising food prices are a major factor behind Trump’s approval ratings falling to their lowest since his return to power, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
Trump’s overnight move follows a similar order announced last Friday to roll back duties on coffee and scores of other products from producing countries.
Top coffee grower Brazil supplies the United States, the world’s largest coffee consumer, with about a third of its beans.
At 1238 GMT, arabica coffee futures on the ICE exchange , used as a benchmark to price physical coffee around the world, were down 4.4 percent at $3.6020 per lb, having earlier plunged more than 6 percent to two-month lows.
Futures prices for robusta coffee beans, typically used in instant coffee rather than in the roast and ground blends where arabica dominates, were down 4.2 percent at $4,438 a metric ton, having earlier sunk 8 percent.
“(We) need the market to digest this. More downside? Maybe, but I do not believe we’ll go below $3/lb. If anything I would be a buyer into whatever market dip comes from this news,” said a Europe-based trader at a top global coffee trade house.
He explained that the global arabica crop is still in deficit, exchange-certified and industry stocks are low, the industry is short on supply and needs to buy and there are still supply risks linked to the La Nina weather phenomenon.
Tariffs aside, dealers were also trying to gauge the damage from floods and landslides in top robusta grower Vietnam’s coffee-growing region, where the death toll as of Thursday stood at 41.
A London-based coffee broker said the market had over-reacted somewhat to the Trump tariff u-turn given it was to some extent expected. “(The move) seemed to shock more than it probably should have,” he said.
In other soft commodities, London cocoa fell 0.9 percent to 3,394 pounds a metric ton, New York cocoa fell 0.8 percent to $5,241 a ton, raw sugar rose 0.6 percent to 14.74 cents per lb while white sugar gained 0.7 percent to $422.90 a ton.
Global coffee prices plunge after Trump removes tariffs on Brazil
https://arab.news/rttk2
Global coffee prices plunge after Trump removes tariffs on Brazil
- Trump’s overnight move follows a similar order announced last Friday to roll back duties on coffee
- Top coffee grower Brazil supplies the United States, the world’s largest coffee consumer, with about a third of its beans
KFC readies finger-licking Japanese Christmas
- The first KFC Christmas campaign was in 1974 and there are different theories about the origins
TOKYO: KFC in Japan is gearing up for the Christmas tradition of millions of families thronging the US fast-food chain for special festive buckets of deep-fried chicken and other treats.
“Reservations for KFC Christmas typically begin around the beginning of November,” Takuma Kawamura, a KFC marketing manager, told AFP at a new upmarket pop-up eatery in Tokyo.
“From that time, stores with the Col. statue will dress him in Christmas attire,” he said, referring to KFC’s late founder Col. Sanders, a widely recognized figure in Japan.
Japan has a tiny Christian majority and Christmas is a secular festival of full-bore consumerism complete with Santa, gifts and streetlights. Couples often go on dates on Christmas Eve.
For food, families often gorge themselves on special “Party Barrels” bursting with chicken, an array of side dishes and a dessert — such as ice cream or cheesecake — stored at the bottom in a separate compartment.
December 24 — Christmas Eve — is KFC Japan’s busiest day by far, with 10 times more customers than normal, the firm said in 2020. Reportedly 3.6 million families make orders.
The first KFC Christmas campaign was in 1974 and there are different theories about the origins.
These include that Takeshi Okawara, the manager of Japan’s first KFC outlet, overheard foreigners pining for turkey, which is often eaten at Christmas in Britain and the United States.
Col. Sanders, who died in 1980, has also entered into baseball folklore in Japan.
Hanshin Tigers supporters threw a plastic statue of the Col. from a KFC restaurant into a river in Osaka in 1985 on their way to winning Japan’s version of the World Series.
This was because fans — many of whom also jumped in the dirty Dotonbori waterway — thought the statue resembled Randy Bass, an American member of the team at the time.
But the dunking spawned the legend of the “Curse of the Colonel” that said the Tigers would never win another title until the effigy was recovered.
The sludge-covered statue was dredged out in 2009, cleaned up and put on display, but it took until 2023 for the Tigers finally to win the championship again.
The plastic Col. was finally disposed of last year following a ritual at a temple attended by KFC’s Japan president, who offered sake and fried chicken.
