Dollar dreadnaught dings dong

Yesterday’s WSJ, which I just got around to reading today, has an interesting article on the effects of the strong dollar on coffee production around the world, “Strong Dollar Skews Coffee Trade.” It leads with a touching story of Vietnamese farmer Y Kua Mlo storing his coffee crop in his bedroom rather than putting the crop on the market because the price in dong, the national currency of Vietnam which is the world’s second largest coffee producer, is depressed because the dong is tied to the dollar. The world’s largest coffee producer Brazil’s currency has, however, dropped, making its coffee cheaper. Meanwhile, production in Brazil is soaring because the real ($R) price is up. “Coffee prices have been painfully low, and none of us want to sell the beans now,” Mr. Mlo moaned. (The market price is 34,000 dong ($1.52/kilogram) but he is holding out for 40,000.) Mrs. Mlo says he should have switched to peppers, so there is probably a lot of tension in the coffee bean-stuffed bedroom.

Vietnam, like the other countries whose currencies are tied to the greenback (China, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Panama, etc. – the list grows ever shorter) are in increasing difficulties, as is the United States itself. I would expect that the market will bring the dollar down soon, particularly as the 10-year bond yield differential is diminishing. (Assuming of course the Fed does not tighten further.)