Coffee prices set to increase to $7 per cup by end of the year
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Heads up, coffee lovers! (Yes, that includes us too.)
Whether it’s the classic flat white or your favourite soy latte, it’s a morning ritual for many of us to have a cup of coffee to jumpstart our day. However, you might have already noticed that we have been paying a bit more for a cuppa in recent weeks.
It’s true. After two years of the pandemic and three weeks of the war between Russia and Ukraine, petrol prices are not the only prices reported to be increasing.
Now, experts are saying that we could be paying $7 for a coffee by the end of the year, too.
The cost of shipping and natural disasters in coffee regions around the world are the reasons behind the price increase. Credit: Brendan Radke.
According to David Parnham, the president of Cafe Owners and Baristas Association of Australia, the surge of increase in petrol prices has also caused shipping costs to skyrocket.
“The cost of shipping has become just ridiculous,” he told ABC News.
“It’s nearly five times the container prices of two years ago due to global shortages of containers and ships to be able to take things around the world.”
Add that to the problems that Brazilian coffee farmers are already currently facing, such as frosts and difficult growing conditions in coffee-growing areas, we might have to say goodbye to our usual $4 cuppas.
The news comes as Australia grapples with the worst inflation rates in more than a decade.
Although coffee lovers will be feeling the pinch in the next few weeks and months, Australian coffee farmers and producers could use this price increase to their advantage.
Candy MacLaughlin from Skybury Roasters hopes the increasing cost of imports will pave the way for growth in the local industry, allowing it to compete in the market alongside international coffee names.
“[In the] overall cost of business, we haven't been able to drop our prices to be competitive, so we've really worked on that niche base,” Ms MacLaughlin said.
“Now we can take all of those plus play in the same space as the international [brands] because our price point, although won't be similar, they will be in the same ballpark.”
Ms MacLaughlin and her husband Marion produce 40 tonnes of coffee annually – and they are prepared to scale up operations to meet rising demand.
“I think the demand for Australian coffee at the moment is an ever-changing landscape and more and more Aussies are starting to question where their food comes from, who is growing it,” she said.
“That's where I see the next stage of the Australian coffee industry going.”
Aside from coffee, since the increasing prices of petrol affect all of the supply chains, food supplier SPC has confirmed that about a hundred staple products – from baked beans to dried spaghetti – will also go up in price by 10 to 20 per cent.
SPC chairman Hussein Rifai said: “[The inflation] impacts our farmers, our partners and those that supply us with packaging.”
“Unfortunately, we have to pass that cost on to the consumer.”
What are your thoughts?
Are you folks already doing some ‘measures’ to combat the rising prices of everyday items? Share them with us in the comments below!
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