Coffee Trade Flows Are Being Upended by Red Sea Shipping Chaos

The Red Sea turmoil that’s wreaking havoc on shipping is hitting the market for robusta beans, the variety used in instant coffee, and upending the usual flow of trade.

Buyers of robusta beans are shunning purchases from top producer Vietnam due to surging shipping costs and longer-than-usual travel times. They are instead seeking to secure more supplies from Brazil, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the information is private.

Houthi militant attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea have disrupted a key passage for coffee exports from Vietnam, forcing many commodity ...