Climate Change-Driven Price Hikes Causing Surge In Green Coffee Theft – CoffeeTalk

The theft of truck loads of green coffee beans in the United States has surged as prices for the beans reached all-time highs in the last year, according to transportation companies. The U.S. is the world’s largest importer of the commodity, and since coffee is only produced in warmer geographies, it has to import nearly 100% of what it uses and transport millions of bags from ports to roasting plants, mostly via trucks.

Organized gangs disguise as transportation companies in the U.S. are in the market trying to get small contracts from importers by offering better prices or immediate availability of trucks. Importers should be careful about who they hire, as once they get the coffee, they disappear. Each truck load has about 44,000 pounds (19,958 kg) of green beans, which at current market value is worth around $180,000. Some market participants believe the gangs then try to sell the beans to smaller roasters, which are feeling the pain from sky-high prices.

Some importers have started attaching tracking devices to the coffee bags, in an effort to protect their shipments.

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