Jamaica's Rare Blue Mountain coffee is becoming rarer

JAMAICA'S RARE Blue Mountain coffee is becoming rarer and more expensive in foreign markets and Jamaican consumers may soon start feeling the effects.

The repeated devastation of Jamaica's coffee crop over two years has cut supplies in half. The result has been a scramble for the scarce beans in foreign markets.

"After Hurricane Ivan hit, there was a 50 per cent falloff in production," said chief executive officer of Mavis Bank Coffee Factory and Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) president, senator Norman Grant.

The country produced five million pounds of Blue Mountain coffee before the hurricane, he said. Afterwards, the output fell to 2.6 million pounds resulting in industry revenues dropping from US$40 million to about US$22 million.

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