Why coffee prices are rising in French cafés and self-service machines
The price of a cup of coffee in a French café or from a self-service machine is likely to increase or has increased recently, due to both soaring inflation and a poor harvest in South America.
The price of arabica coffee beans has increased by 39.2 percent over the past year, with one Parisian distributor telling BFMTV, “We have increased the price of our coffees by 10 to 15 percent.”
“I had no prior knowledge of this! In the past five years, we have never raised our prices, but now we have no choice.”
This increase is partially attributable to a prolonged period of freezing temperatures and floods in Brazil, the world’s largest coffee producer, which destroyed up to 30 percent of the coffee bean harvest in some regions.
In addition, the cost of transporting beans across the Atlantic has increased from an average of €3,000 per container to €7,000 due to increased demand and the ongoing disruption of the shipping industry caused by Covid lockdowns.
A portion of this inflation will be passed on to consumers in the form of a five centime price increase at the average self-service coffee machine, with individual cafés deciding how to handle their rising costs.
According to Yoann Chuffart, director-general of the Fédération nationale de vente et services automatiques, “in the context of widespread overinflation, managers find themselves in a precarious, even perilous position.”
They are unable to pass on the price increase to the final consumer quickly or easily.
