Columbia, the world’s third largest producer of coffee, is predicting that there output of their beans could drop to 10,000,000 bags less this year than last year, according to Jorge Lazano who is the president of the National Association of Columbia Coffee Exporters. The numbers for May are not good, compared to the same time last year. The crop may fall 13% from the amount harvested this time last year. The Association is sticking to it previous prediction for this years crop being between 10.5 million to 11.5 million bags this year, each bag weighing 132 lbs. They expect to still meet the needs of all contracted shipments, even with the lower output. The prediction that Columbia will harvest less beans this year than in the past has made coffee gain 22% this year. Coffee may exceed $1.70 per pound, which is a ten year high. This is due to excessive rainfall which has damaged the crops, according to the growers federation.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=a_yzWGDTYQpA&refer=latin_america
