Coffee prices closed sharply lower on Friday, August 21st, with robusta falling to a 1-week low as the market came under pressure from expectations that drier weather in Brazil will speed up the country’s coffee harvest. Robusta also declined amid rising inventories, with ICE robusta inventories climbing to an 8.75-month high of 4,732 lots on Friday. Earlier in the week, arabica prices had surged to a 6.5-month high on Wednesday because the slow pace of Brazil’s coffee harvest was limiting supplies. Brazil’s Cooxupe co-op reported on Wednesday that 81.1% of the harvest was complete as of August 14, up 7 points from the prior week but still down slightly from 86.1% a year earlier. Safras & Mercado reported last Friday that Brazil’s 2026/27 coffee harvest was 90% completed as of August 12, behind 97% last year and the 5-year average of 94%; Brazil’s arabica coffee harvest was 86% complete, behind last year’s 95%. Below-normal rainfall in Brazil should speed up the pace of the country’s coffee harvest, a bearish factor for prices. Somar Meteorologia reported on Monday that 0.6 mm of rain, or 11% of the historical average, fell in the week ended August 16 in Brazil’s Minas Gerais, the country’s main arabica-coffee growing region. Falling inventories remain bullish for arabica coffee prices, as ICE arabica coffee inventories fell to a 2.75-year low of 227,992 bags on Friday. By contrast, rising inventories are bearish for robusta coffee, as ICE robusta inventories climbed to an 8.75-month high of 4,722 lots on Friday.