Ebola has certainly made headlines this year. The world watched in sadness and fear as news of the virus spreading in affected areas killed people.

The Ebola virus outbreak, which has now killed more than 4,000 people, has left the residents of countries like Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea struggling to cope with food shortages and spiking prices.

In these countries where poverty rates are already high, economists have said that these problems could have an impact on the trading of such commodities as coffee and cocoa long after the outbreak is over.

This is due to the restrictions on the movement of people and goods as well as the death toll, as supply of agricultural products fall and prices rise which is commonly in demand and supply.

The outbreak has had a major effect on all commodities from these areas. Coffee production has fallen by half, cocoa is down by a third, while palm oil production is down 75%. In addition to this, many foreign companies have withdrawn their workers, and airlines have reduced their flights which has caused further related problems in the service sector.

However, it is not only these three countries that have trading problems stemming from Ebola. The neighbouring countries of Ghana and the Ivory Coast - the world's largest cocoa-producing nations could also be affected soon too as the virus could hinder transportation etc.

La Cimbali's Coffee Specialist Rob Ward says "Most of the countries around the affected places of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea are predominantly Robusta producers so the crisis may have the potential to affect lower grade coffee, instant coffee, and even some more traditional Italian coffee blends.

Then there is the danger that the price may go up even more on speciality coffee as demand increases. However, the good news is that other areas of the world (outside of Africa) currently unaffected by the Ebola outbreak produce large amounts of coffee that could fill the gap including; Vietnam who produce 24 million bags (60 kg a bag) of Robusta a year, Brazil who produce 36 million bags and Columbia who produce 11 million bags."

Rob continues "Thankfully, the Ebola crisis seems to be slowly getting under control so I am confident that coffee supplies and prices will remain to be relatively unaffected by the crisis."

This is certainly good news for coffee lovers around the world.
So while the medical professionals continue their search for further control of Ebola, coffee makers around the world make sure that researchers' coffee don't ever go out of stock!