Coffee prices 'to stay high for two years', says Lavazza

Coffee prices are unlikely to drop for at least two years as geopolitical tensions and climate change drive up costs, Lavazza has warned.

The Italian coffee giant says the sector has experienced “exceptional volatility”, with Arabica coffee prices increasing by 230 per cent since 2021 and Robusta up by 325 per cent over the same period.

Coffee prices have moved sharply higher over the past month as heavy rains in Brazil have disrupted fieldwork.

A flat white at Lavazza’s flagship cafe off Regent Street in central London has risen from £4 last year to £4.40 to take away, and from £5.50 to £6.50 to drink inside, though chair Giuseppe Lavazza said UK consumers had shown “high resilience” to rising prices.

He said the market has suffered from “quite unprecedented” issues, revealing it would need “at least two years of good crops coming out of Brazil and Vietnam to ease the situation”.

He added: “This has been a year of high turbulence and pressure, not just in the coffee market but in the general economy.

“The coffee market now shows fundamental changes compared to the past.

“We are living in an environment we don’t know very well.”

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