Why are some roasters increasing prices by £5 per kilo?
Why are some roasters increasing prices by £5 per kilo?
First up, we are not. But there was a point last year where we were worried we might have to.
I somewhat understand why they’ve had to but given the nature of the way we buy coffee directly from producers we are able to offset some costs due to larger shipping volumes and also the timing of purchasing at different points last year. This means that thankfully the increases are nothing like what we feared at one point midway through 2025.
I’m sure this won’t come as a surprise given the amount of news coverage to the insane volatility of the coffee market in 2025, coupled with the state of British business and rapidly rising costs, but regrettably we will need to increase prices this year.
We’ve decided to restrict our price increase to less than £2/Kg this year, absorb some of the costs, watch the market and review in the latter half of 2026 as we hope markets will stabilise.
This will pinch margins but it is the reality of the global economy, the coffee market and climate change. Not forgetting this is generally good news for farmers, it also poses incredible challenges for them with crop uncertainty and increases production costs at origin too.
Without boring you with an in-depth analysis here are the main factors to help understand:
- Coffee is up 25% in 2025 (at one point more than 45%)
- Massive volatility in the market breeds uncertainty
- Local currencies struggling against the USD $
- Climate change reducing yields, and damaging crops
- Rising demand for coffee in emerging economies
- Global instability and rising costs of farming
- Local wages have risen more than 20% in some coffee-producing countries
- + in the UK everything is on the rise – wages, shipping costs, business rates, tax rates etc
We’ve been in coffee 20 years, and never experienced such instability and difficulty in fixing prices. Those who have been with us over the years know we have only rarely and reluctantly raised prices. We remain hopeful that things will settle somewhat this year, and as such we are committed to returning to price stability for our customers as soon as possible.
We’ve also put off the rise for months until we had the new crops land to be as fair as possible.
As always, any questions or concerns please talk to us.
