Coffee Jumps on Renewed Brazil Production Worries

Coffee futures soared for a second day Monday, as investors continued to worry about this year’s coffee harvest in Brazil.

Coffee jumped 8.4 cents, or 4.5 percent, to $1.94 a pound. That’s on top of Friday’s 6 percent jump.

Brazil’s National Coffee Council said Friday that it expects the country’s harvest to be between 40.1 million and 43.3 million bags, down from its previous forecast of 44 million bags, according to The Wall Street Journal. Brazil produces roughly half of the world’s supply of coffee.

Other agricultural commodities were mostly lower. Wheat rose 7 cents, or 1 percent, to $6.763 a bushel, while soybeans fell 10 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $14.62 a bushel. Corn fell 3 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $4.99 a bushel.

Gold for April fell $5.20, or 0.4 percent, to $1,298.30 an ounce, and silver fell 4 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $19.91 an ounce. Platinum for July delivery lost $23.10, or 1.6 percent, to $1,427.80 an ounce, and June palladium fell $23.10, or 3 percent, to $767.65 an ounce.