Badgett’s Coffee eJournal links to an article about coffee futures, which I find interesting.

Did you know that coffee was the second most actively traded commodity. After oil. Wow! I would have thought that grains would top coffee.

Arabica coffee futures in Tokyo fell 3.1 percent, the biggest fluctuation of any commodity market today, after a report yesterday showed Brazilian exports increased last month, easing concern about a global shortage.

Brazil, which grows about 43 percent of the world’s Arabica, shipped 7.1 percent more of the milder-tasting beans than a year earlier, an exporter group said. Forecasts of a smaller harvest sent Arabica futures up 68 percent to a six-year high on the Tokyo Grain Exchange the past six months.

The content originally appeared on Bloomberg on May 6. According to the article, Arabica is popular with Starbucks. It is expected that supply may not meet demand this year - the worry stems from weather concerns in Brazil. What does this mean? Higher prices. The last time a crop failed in Brazil, prices went up 36%. Fun stuff.