Food and beverage manufacturer The J. M. Smucker Co. reported fiscal 2021 second quarter (to Oct. 31) revenue growth of 3.9% year over year. The growth included improved shipments of coffee where the firm delivered sales growth of 9% due to increased stay-at-home spending, with CEO Mark Smucker stating "over 1.5 million net new households consumed at least one of our coffee brands during the quarter. As new coffee habits have formed the pandemic, we have the opportunity to retain a substantial portion of these new consumers for the long term." 

The increased competition between stay-at-home providers has also hinged on product sourcing, with Smucker noting "we have a very consistent supply. We have a very robust and scaled supply chain."

Global coffee supplies have proven less consistent until recently with global exports having declined by 5.0% year over year in Q3'20, Panjiva's analysis of ICO data shows, but have since reversed to a 3.7% increase. The latter was the first improvement since April and was largely the result of an 11.5% rise in shipments from Brazil, the second improvement in a row. Exports from Indonesia also swung to a recovery with growth of 43.9% year over year in October while exports from Uganda and Vietnam also improved.

Panjiva's data shows that not all buyers have necessarily taken advantage in the return to growth in Brazil's shipments. Exports linked to JM Smucker actually declined by 1.4% year over year after having increased by 21.9% in August, though the firm's shipments have remained relatively constant over the past three years versus its peers. 

The recovery in Brazilian exports has likely been led by increased shipments linked to Starbucks, which jumped by 41.6% year over year, while JDE Peet's shipments increased by 14.8% having declined for the prior three months.

Christopher Rogers is a senior researcher at Panjiva, which is a business line of S&P Global Market Intelligence, a division of S&P Global Inc. This content does not constitute investment advice, and the views and opinions expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of S&P Global Market Intelligence. Links are current at the time of publication. S&P Global Market Intelligence is not responsible if those links are unavailable later.