The past couple years have been crazy for all of us worldwide. The past couple of years for coffee roasters and producers alike has been challenging to say the least. In this post we offer some insight into the main reasons of why the coffee price and others alike have skyrocketed.
A Global Pandemic, 2021 Brazil Frosts & Disruptions to Global Supply Chains: The Catalyst
In July last year coffee producing regions across Brazil were hit with major damage following the most severe frost to hit coffee farms in over 40 years. These frosts caused panic within the industry, causing concern for both the farmers livelihoods in affected areas and then the potential impact this could have on the supply chain for years to come. With Brazil being the largest coffee producing Country in the world, their harvest heavily influences the “C Price” (The minimum commodity coffee price) which resulted in a huge raise of over 80%.
Covid & War sends the costs of freight soaring, which in turn has seen increases cost of production at origin. This is due to increased prices and scarcity of resources like fertilisers and pesticides which have seen prices rise nearly 30% since the beginning of the year following last years 80% surge coinciding with the dramatic increase in the cost of shipping globally all adding onto inflation and an overall higher cost of production and shipping leading to a sharp spikes in the price of green coffee & its transportation.
Our Approach:
While some roasters are able to make strategic substitutions with their coffees through finding deals on past crop coffees or substituting particular origins out, we simply cannot follow suit. The biggest reasons for this is our commitment to sourcing the very best single origin coffees from farmers at around the world, and with so much time and attention paid to the production of high quality coffees, we can’t break our commitment to purchasing ethically sourced & sustainable coffees with quality at the forefront rather then attempting to absorb the increased costs via the approach of substituting lower quality coffees out to match a particular price point.
What this means for you:
At this point in time we have weathered the storm and haven’t passed on any increase to our customers. Inevitably, this will have to change in the not so distant future. To remain true to our word, around ethically sourcing high quality coffee and not breaking relationship with our farmers and suppliers, like everything else at the moment, there will be an increase in our coffee price.
For Blackboard Coffee to remain the same coffee brand you know and love, this is the unfortunate reality of the current situation around the globe. So if you do happen to see a change in your price per kg please be kind, the increase is not to fill our pockets, but to keep that smile on your face each time you sip on on a Blackboard Coffee.
Written by Kyle Graham - General Manager & Luke Romer - Head Roaster
08, 2022