A significant shortfall in the supply of Jamaica’s Blue Mountain coffee is forcing Japanese distributors to raise prices or halt sales of the famed Caribbean variety that has found avid fans in the Country of the Rising Sun.
According to Nikkei, UCC Ueshima Coffee – Japan’s biggest coffee roaster – will raise the prices of seven products that use the beans by about 40% starting Sept. 1.
Even though the largest Japanese distributor has its own plantation in Jamaica, its bean procurement has fallen by more than half compared with 2007.
Key Coffee will stop selling some of its Blue Mountain blends this fall, as it expects difficulty securing large quantities of beans that could pass its internal quality controls.
Japan consumes about 80% of Blue Mountain output, making it the biggest market for the coffee.
The popularity likely dates from the 1950s, when a booming cafe industry actively incorporated it into menus.
Production in Jamaica has dropped to a fifth of its 2007 peak. Total output for 2014 is projected at about 430 tons.
Source: asia.nikkei.com
