Climate change does it again. The food commodities market has been disrupted again due to the effects of various weather events recorded in different parts of the globe and impacting crops. This is a summary prepared by Bloomberg on some key commodities:

Coffee. You may have already noticed that the price of coffee in the supermarket, both instant and whole bean, has skyrocketed. The main reason lies in supply. Brazilian farmers expect a reduced crop in the current season due to the effects of the weather, while in Vietnam and Indonesia a smaller harvest and a decline in cultivated area have cut their supply. Brazil is the world's largest coffee producer, while Vietnam and Indonesia are the second and third largest, respectively. The industry expects that prices will continue to increase until the middle of next year due to the lower supply from the main producers.

Cocoa. For chocolate lovers, the outlook is no better. Poor climatic conditions for growing cocoa have hit production in West Africa, including Côte d'Ivoire, the world's largest cocoa producer by far. Retail prices of chocolates and cocoa products have not risen so far because manufacturers had large stocks of cocoa purchased when prices were low, but will have to replace them in a market with less supply and rising prices, and will end up passing on the higher cost to consumers. The question is how elastic demand will be in the face of higher prices.

Grains. The story here is the other way around. The rains left by Hurricane Beryl in parts of the U.S. have been beneficial for U.S. grain production, driving corn and soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade to their lowest levels since 2020.

Food inflation in China. An extremely hot summer, coupled with droughts in certain parts of the country and floods in others, have jeopardized wheat, corn, soybean and rice harvests, threatening a resurgence of food inflation in the Asian giant, Bloomberg notes. Looking ahead, China's National Climate Center warns that the country will be affected by severe events associated with climate change.