Colombia’s worst earthquake in more than half a century hit western Colombia early in the morning of August 10, 2026. Now, just a week later, authorities say that more than two hundred people are dead, more than five hundred are missing and possibly still buried in the rubble of collapsed buildings, and thousands of Colombians are injured. The new president has declared a national emergency and announced financial support for those directly affected by the 7.4 Richter scale quake. Because this earthquake was centered just west of the Eje Cafetero or Colombian coffee axis and near the port of Buen Aventura, it has also had a direct effect on exports of Arabica coffee from premier growing region for what is reliably best coffee in volume in the world.

This Shows How Close Major Cities in the Coffee Axis Were to the Earthquake

Halting of Exports Post Earthquake in Colombia

Bloomberg reported damage to rural roads and export facilities at the port of Buen Aventura from where the bulk of Colombian coffee exports are sent out to the world. For most of the week following the historic earthquake roads have been blocked, especially in rural coffee growing areas but even major highways which commonly pass below mountains via tunnels. Additionally, there has been damage to some of the export facilities at the Buenaventura port although the extent does not appear to be severe and will likely be repairable in the near term. For the near term Maersk has shut down export operations while they assess the damage. Other export facilities are available on the Caribbean coast at Cartagena and Santa Marta but a shortage of trucks to transport coffee to these ports will make that a poor option.

Colombian Earthquake and the Price of Arabica Coffee

As one would expect the futures price of Colombian Arabica coffee went up by a percent or two due to a likely short term supply shortage. The earthquake has not seemed to have caused any significant damage to coffee farms but has mostly affected transport of harvested and processed beans to export facilities. The worst damage has been in cities in the departments of Risaralda, Caldas, and Cali and the cities of Pereira, Manizales, and Cali. While damage is severe in these cities none of the structural damage in cities is having an effect on coffee production, processing, or exports and thus none on the price of Arabica coffee.

How Long Will the Halt of Colombian Coffee Exports Last?

Coffee exports from Colombia will resume but at a slow pace as export facilities will be the first to recover followed by major highways and then rural roads that connect remote mountain coffee farms to the rest of the world. In cities like Manizales engineers have been going building to building to check structural integrity before allowing resumption of normal operations. Fortunately no BuyOrganicCoffee.org associates in Manizales were harmed during the earthquake even though a lateral tower of the landmark Manizales cathedral had a later tower collapse.

Damage to Landmark Cathedral in Manizales, Colombia

Will the Colombian Earthquake Have a Long Term Effect of Coffee Exports?

It is likely that export facilities at Buenaventura and roads throughout the area will be repaired in the near term and that exports of Arabica coffee from the world’s premier Arabica coffee region will return to normal. This, of course, assumes that there will be no significant aftershocks. As of this writing there have been more than a hundred aftershocks but none anywhere near the magnitude of the initial quake. The strongest aftershock was a 5.0 on the Richter scale which is a 1/100 of the initial quake seismic spike amplitude and 1/1000 of the energy of the initial quake. From Manizales in the heart of the Eje Cafetero we wish all of you the best in coffee experiences and promise that very soon you will have no worries about getting you excellent coffee from Colombia!