Global coffee prices tumbled on Friday after United States President, Donald Trump, lifted 40 per cent tariffs on Brazilian agricultural imports.

US retail coffee prices had surged 40 per cent year-on-year in September, partly due to the tariffs.

Rising food costs have contributed to Trump’s approval ratings hitting their lowest point since his return to office, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

The tariff rollback follows a similar move last Friday, which reduced duties on coffee and numerous other products from key producing nations.

Brazil, the world’s top coffee producer, supplies roughly a third of the beans consumed by the United States, the largest coffee market.

At 12:38 GMT, arabica coffee futures on the ICE exchange, a global benchmark for physical coffee, were down 4.4 per cent at $3.6020 per pound, after earlier plunging more than 6 per cent to two-month lows.

Futures for robusta coffee beans, commonly used in instant coffee rather than the arabica-dominated roast and ground blends, fell 4.2 per cent to $4,438 per metric ton, after earlier dropping as much as 8 per cent.

“(We) need the market to digest this. More downside? Maybe, but I do not believe we’ll go below $3/lb. If anything I would be a buyer into whatever market dip comes from this news,” said a Europe-based trader at a top global coffee trade house.

He noted that the global arabica crop remains in deficit, exchange-certified and industry stocks are low, and the market faces a supply shortage, with ongoing risks from the La Niña weather phenomenon.

Beyond tariffs, traders were also assessing the impact of floods and landslides in Vietnam’s main robusta-growing regions, where the death toll reached 41 as of Thursday.