The price of coffee is getting more and more expensive. What is going on?

As a coffee lover, you've probably noticed it. It's been in the news regularly over the past few months: coffee prices are going up. And in most cases, they've already gone up...

This article from NOS and this article from NU.nl , among others, explain in detail what this price increase is about.

In this blog I would like to delve deeper into the 3 most important reasons to make it understandable for you.

Frost in Brazil

Brazil is the world's largest producer of Arabica coffee beans. It's therefore not surprising that a problem in this country would cause the prices of many coffees to rise.

The bottom line is that Brazil experienced (unexpected) frost, which destroyed large plantations. The coffee plants were literally killed by this frost...

Let alone what this means for the long term, but for now this practically means that Brazilian coffee farmers have suffered a production loss of at least 40%, which has caused prices to rise so much.

A classic case of climate change problems...

If you're interested in reading more about that monarch in Brazil, the world's largest coffee producer, read on .

Too much demand

There was always just enough quality coffee, good Arabica beans , to meet demand. Since the coronavirus pandemic began in March 2020 , demand for quality coffee has increased dramatically .

We've switched en masse from the (usually not so good) machine coffee at work to good coffee at home. We're satisfied, but that also means there's too much demand.

Combined with the production losses mentioned earlier, this can't bode well. If demand is too high, shortages arise, and that drives prices up.

Transport costs are skyrocketing

I think almost everyone has had to deal with this at some point.

The bottom line is that ocean shipping has risen dramatically in price, sometimes by as much as 500% of the original price .

I don't know the exact figures today, but I do notice this when purchasing new coffees that all arrive by sea container.