On August 11th, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake hit the western part of Colombia. Striking roughly 200km north of Cali, the earthquake is the largest in the country since 2016 and could be felt in neighboring Ecuador and Panama. There are currently over 250 casualties reported.
Amidst the tragedy and the human toll, the earthquake has also crippled the infrastructure, bringing the country’s coffee industry to a near halt.
Colombia is the third largest coffee producing country in the world, behind only Brazil and Vietnam, and of the three is arguable the most associated with high-end specialty coffee. On their own they provide a fifth of all coffee imported into the United States, the largest importing country in the world.
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As reported by the Financial Times, the earthquake cause a landslide that “disrupted” a primary road through which 60% of the country’s coffee exports flow. And the terminus of that road, the port of Bonaventure on the Pacific coast— responsible for most of Colombia’s coffee exports—has had operations temporarily halted for infrastructure inspections.
This disruption further compounds the current market volatility coffee is experiencing due to concerns the impact the upcoming El Niño will have on growing regions. Currently, the price of Arabica futures on the C-Market sits at $3.18 a pound, up $.80 from where it was just two months ago.
It is still too early to determine the extent of the damages done to roads, mills, and other infrastructure vital to the coffee trade. No timeline has yet been given as to when an assessment will be completed.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
