Coffee prices for end consumers will continue to rise as climate change, supply disruptions and new European Union regulations lead to increased costs for roasters, predicts the chairman of the board of directors of the Italian company Lavazza, Giuseppe Lavazza.
“Coffee prices are not going to fall, they will remain very high,” he said in an interview with the Financial Times. “The coffee supply chain is under serious pressure.”
The price of coffee on British supermarket shelves has increased by around 15% compared to 2023.
Coffee roasting companies have been forced to raise prices and lower margins as the cost of raw materials has risen, Lavazza said, citing reduced supplies due to climate change.
Arabica futures traded above $2.4 a pound and neared a two-year high of $2.5 a pound hit in April, Trading Economics reported. This is due, in particular, to a reduction in supplies from Vietnam due to unfavorable weather.
In the first half of the year, coffee exports from Vietnam fell by 10.6% compared to the same period last year, to 902,000 tons, according to the country’s State Administration.
World coffee prices rose significantly in the second quarter due to intense heat in the main growing regions of Asia. Quotations of robusta futures in London by the end of June increased by 18.1% compared to the end of March, Arabica futures by 20.6%.
Lavazza, founded in 1895 in Turin, is one of the largest coffee companies in the world. Revenue by the end of 2023 increased by 13% and amounted to 3.1 billion euros.
The Lavazza group includes such companies as the French Carte Noire, the Danish Merrild and the Canadian Kicking Horse Coffee. The group has eight production facilities in Italy and four other countries. The state has more than 4,000 people.
