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.
