Coffee buyers in the United States have started requesting to postpone imports of Brazilian coffee following a 50% tariff imposed on Brazilian goods by U.S. President Donald Trump, local exporters’ group Cecafe said on Tuesday.

The U.S. coffee industry, a major buyer of Brazilian coffee, is now in a holding pattern as it awaits news on tariff negotiations, said Cecafe President Marcio Ferreira.

“They have inventory for 30 to 60 days, which gives them some breathing room to wait a little longer for ongoing negotiations,” Ferreira said.

In an email to Reuters, the United States’ National Coffee Association said it did not have information on the matter.

Postponements in shipping would also hit exporters using advances on exchange contracts, or ACCs, a type of instrument used for pre-shipment financing, Ferreira said.

“With delays to business, an ACC (NSE:) is not complied with and we start to suffer from more interest, high fees, and additional costs, with overheads, for example,” Ferreira said.

Furthermore, the current inverted futures market – where more distant contracts depreciate versus closer ones, he said, adding that postponing a shipment planned for September until December would cause an additional loss of $10 per bag.

“Postponing shipments … has this cumulative and accentuated negative impact,” Ferreira said.

While the tariff took effect this month, Brazilian green coffee exports to all destinations fell 28.1% in July compared to the same month a year ago, to 2.45 million 60-kilogram (132.3 lb) bags, according to Cecafe data.

Brazil, the world’s top coffee producer and exporter, shipped 1.98 million bags of arabica beans abroad last month, a 20.6% decline year-on-year, while exports of the robusta variety dropped nearly 49% to about 461,000 bags, the data showed.

While the U.S. is the biggest consumer, other top customers include Germany, Italy, and Belgium, according to Cecafe.
Source: Reuters