Investigating the relations between coffee prices and the growth of selected coffee exporting countries

Coffee, one of the most important commodities traded in the world, is mainly grown in Latin America and Africa under certain altitudes and climatic conditions. In this study, causality relationships between world coffee prices and GDPs of four coffee producer countries, two from Latin America (Brazil and Colombia) and two from Africa (Kenya and Ethiopia), were tested. Using the series from 1981-2021, the relationships were investigated empirically with Engle-Granger cointegration analysis, error correction model, and Toda-Yamamoto causality methods. According to the analysis, while unidirectional causality between GDP and world coffee price was found for Brazil, Colombia, and Kenya, there was no causality for Ethiopia. As a result of the Engle-Granger cointegration analysis, which tests the long-term relationship, a significant relationship has been found between GDP and coffee prices for all selected countries. According to the results of the error correction model results model that tests the short-term relationship, the relationship between GDP and world coffee price is obtained for Brazil and Colombia. However, such a relationship could not be found in Kenya and Ethiopia.