KC U26: 335.00 – 333.10
U26 / Z26: 19.80 – 20.30
Market levels referenced in this update reflect conditions as of August 13, 2026.
Nothing Else Matters
So close, no matter how far. Couldn’t be much more from the heart. Forever trusting who we are, and nothing else matters.
Distance disappears when tragedy strikes. Colombia may be thousands of miles away from many of the folks reading this, but for the coffee community this feels painfully close. Friends, colleagues, producers, exporters, families were jolted awake Monday morning, enduring nearly 2 minutes of fear as the ground undulated, buildings cracked and dust filled the air.
Today, charts don’t matter. Supply deficits don’t matter. Differentials don’t matter. Colombia matters. People matter.
Colombia was one of the first coffee producing countries I visited in Latin America. After years of living in and working with producers in East Africa, I expected the interior of one of the world’s most famous coffee producing countries to feel different. A different culture, new landscapes, a new system, a new way of understanding coffee.
What I realized as I traveled through Quindío and other coffee producing departments of the Eje Cafetero was one of the most powerful lessons I had learned in Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda; we are not so different. I saw roadside markets on the way to Armenia that reminded me of the road to Cyangugu in Rwanda’s Rusizi District. I saw hand painted store fronts in Pereira that reminded me of Mbeya, Tanzania. Sure, the landscape and the farms were a bit different, but the people and communities were familiar. Families working the land, trying to build security through coffee, and opening their homes and businesses to visitors who often did not speak their language.
Early counts have put the death toll at more than 250, even before search and rescue teams have been able to assess the rubble. The visible damage to homes, roads, buildings and infrastructure is already staggering. Less visible, but no less real is the emotional and psychological toll on those who lived through the shaking, the noise, the dust and the loss.
At this point we’ve all seen the videos, and it’s impossible to have not been viscerally impacted. For many of the people in those videos, this is not the first time the ground has rewritten daily life. In January 1999, another devastating earthquake struck the Eje Cafetero. Lessons learned from that tragedy may have helped to reduce the toll this week, but the quake also reminds us how vulnerable the mountain communities at the heart of the specialty coffee’s global community remain.
For now, I want to leave you with a few places to gather reliable updates or to contribute to the recovery efforts. StoneX Specialty does not have any official relationship with these organizations, and this is not a formal endorsement. They are simply a place to start for anyone looking for more information or ways to help.
The Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC)
Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
As always, your dutiful green coffee partner,