Your instant coffee may soon be at risk from Suez blockage

(March 26): The crisis in the Suez Canal could soon hit your instant coffee. The vessel blocking passage in one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints isn’t just curbing shipments of crude oil and liquefied natural gas, but also containers of robusta coffee-- the typed used in Nescafe. Europe is most affected as it imports through the Suez, but the impact will be felt globally as the shipping delays exacerbate a shortage of containers that upended food markets. The massive container ship Ever Given became jammed in the key trade route on Tuesday, blocking passage for ships hauling almost US$10 billion of goods through the Egyptian waterway. Dislodging the 200,000-ton vessel could take days or even weeks, and a logjam around the canal has already doubled. “For traders, they are going to scramble to supply their clients in Europe,” said Jan Luhmann, founder of JL Coffee Consulting and a former head coffee buyer at Jacobs Douwe Egberts BV, one of the world’s largest ...