Commodities

Coffee Prices Stay at Record Despite Drop in Market for Beans

A worker inspects coffee beans at a facility in Ciudad Bolivar, Antioquia department, Colombia.

Photographer: Edinson Ivan Arroyo Mora/Bloomberg

Record coffee prices aren’t easing anytime soon despite a sharp drop in the commodity market for beans — a sign of how long supply chain snarls can upend food prices.

Average US consumer prices for coffee were $9.459 a pound in February, reaching a new record, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The 31% surge from a year earlier made it one of the biggest drivers of food inflation last month, and the impact from earlier production shocks and tariffs is expected to linger.