FLOODING from Hurricane Katrina has placed about 8 per cent of the world’s coffee supply, which is stored in warehouses in New Orleans, under threat.

Coffee experts gave warning last night that severe and rising floodwaters threatened to destroy the city’s stock of coffee and hit supplies.

Néstor Asorio, executive director of the International Coffee Organisation, estimated that the loss of the 96,000 tonnes of coffee stored in New Orleans would take a year to replace and would raise the price of coffee.

The New York Board of Trade said yesterday that “no further delivery notices may be issued for coffee to be delivered in the Port of New Orleans until the condition of the warehouses and the coffee located there can be determined”.

New Orleans stores both Arabica and Robusta green coffee valued at between $100 million (£56 million) and $160 million. This represents 27 per cent of American stocks and 8 per cent of total global supply. The United States is the world’s largest consumer of coffee.

However, the impact of the loss of the stock is likely to be small beans when it comes to the price of a lattè or espresso sold in cafés on the high street. Retailers such as Starbucks and Caffè Nero say that they spend more on labour, rent and milk than on coffee.

Gerry Ford, chairman of Caffè Nero, said yesterday: “We mostly get our supplies directly from Latin America and Central America. We buy in advance and we have stocks in hand so the implications of this are minuscule.”

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