We do not have good news for coffee lovers. This change might not go over well with people who need one or two warm cups to start the day or a brew in the afternoon to keep them going. First the prices of eggs went up a lot, and now it is the turn of coffee.
The price of one of the most-bought items in the US is about to go up. A must-have in every home, but where is this unheard-of rise coming from?
What’s happening with coffee?
Coffee is special, and no one should mess with a good morning cup. Like, it is my favorite thing to do. There are more than 400 million cups of coffee drunk every day in the U.S., and this price increase will hurt millions of households. Why? Besides the economic crisis, there are other problems as well, like the climate crisis.
Coffee is getting more expensive
The numbers are clear: in February of this year, the price of arabica coffee beans in bulk went over $4 per pound for the first time. This is more than double what they cost a year ago.
The price even hit $4.30 a pound on February 13. Producers, distributors, and now consumers are being warned that prices will continue to rise, which is scary because we have to spend our savings just to stay awake in the morning.
Extreme weather in Brazil and Vietnam
Brazil and Vietnam, which both export a lot of coffee, have been hit by bad weather in the past year. In August, Brazil had a severe drought and a wave of frost that hurt crops very badly. Vietnam, on the other side of the world, got a lot of rain after a long dry spell, which destroyed whole coffee plantations.
And because Brazil alone grows 40% of the world’s coffee, everyone feels it when its crops fail because of bad weather or other problems.
Trump and tariffs
U.S. trade policy is another thing that could make coffee prices go down. The Trump administration wants to add new tariffs that could make prices go up even more.
One of Italy’s most famous coffee brands, Illy Caffe, has already said that these tariffs will show up in final retail prices. They say this because the high cost of beans is putting pressure on the industry’s profit margins.
How will this affect consumers?
The effect will happen right away. Some businesses, like coffee shops and supermarkets, might not be able to cover all the extra costs. As a result, customers may have to pay up to a dollar more for each cup of coffee they buy, though this could change over time.
How can we prepare for this?
Many consumers have already started “panic buying” coffee in bulk to keep a good supply at home. Our advice: you don’t need to stockpile kilos of coffee, but it’s definitely worth buying enough to brew at home.
Will coffee prices stabilize again?
In the short term, analysts are not very hopeful. The coffee market has been in similar situations before, but never with so many problems at once, such as extreme weather, trade tensions, and high demand around the world. It does not look like things will get better.
We all need to be aware of how global warming affects us. If we do not want everyday things like coffee to only exist in our memories one day, then sustainability should be our number one goal.
