A cold snap in Brazil has damaged coffee trees and will substantially reduce next year’s bean harvest. An unpredictable cut in supplies from the world’s largest producer of raw materials will lead to increase in prices.

A sudden frost occurred on the morning of July 20. According to the Brazilian National Meteorological Institute, the minimum temperature in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais has reached minus 1.2 degrees Celsius. Ana Carolina Alves Gomez, coffee analyst at the Faemg Agriculture Federation, said that, in addition to Minas Gerais, it was extremely cold in the state of São Paulo. According to experts, in response to the freeze, coffee prices rose by 13 percent – to a maximum of the last 6.5 years.