(Bloomberg) -- Traders holding coffee beans in exchange warehouses are suddenly sitting on a jackpot.

Brazil’s arabica coffee-crop losses are estimated at about twice the amount sitting in warehouses monitored by ICE Futures U.S., the main futures exchange for trading the beans. Prices surged to a more than six-year high on Friday after the worst frost in two decades damaged crops and destroyed some trees in the South American nation, the world’s top grower.

“The ICE inventory will become in high demand, and whoever owns it, is sitting on a gold mine,” said Judy Ganes, the president of J. Ganes Consulting.

Brazil started increasing deliveries to ICE after a record crop last year. There were 2.18 million bags of coffee at the depots as of July 22, with the bulk held at facilities in Antwerp. Crop losses for next year’s harvest in Brazil may range from 4.05 million to 5.2 million bags, according to an Ecom Research report seen by Bloomberg.

While prices eased Friday after updated weather forecasts showed a lower chance of frost next week in Brazil, there’s high risk for more frost through mid-August, and there have been freeze events after that date. Also, the intensity of the chill this week damaged young trees, which is expected to affect crops for years as those younger specimens may die and many will have to be replanted.

It takes about three years for plants to become commercially productive, dimming production prospects for years, according to Rabobank International. Furthermore, Honduras, the top supplier in Central America, is struggling to recover from Covid and hurricane impacts.

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