Coffee Prices

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From Fodor's: Whether you brew your own or go to Starbucks for your daily hit, you will be affected in the coming years as coffee gets more expensive. Global production of coffee is threatened by crop failures, a study says. As a result, 120 million small farmers that depend on coffee for their livelihoods will struggle to survive.

Rising temperatures are leading to unfriendly conditions to grow coffee, and weather hazards such as heatwaves, frosts, floods, and droughts are threatening the crop. “With climate change projections showing a continued rise in temperatures in the tropics is likely, we suggest that coffee production can expect ongoing systemic shocks in response to spatially compounding climate hazards,” the report states.

Another research relayed that the area suitable for production of coffee could get halved by 2100 due to climate change. The taste, flavor, and prices will definitely be affected, too.

There’s more bad news on the caffeine front: the climate event El Niño is predicted to be strong this year and it will raise the prices of coffee, chocolate, and sugar. El Niño is a natural weather pattern that increases the surface temperature of the eastern Pacific Ocean. It’s a very complicated weather event that affects billions around the world—it brings heatwaves and droughts to Asia and Central America, while floods to South America, south of the U.S., and the Horn of Africa.

I wonder how it will affect the coffee grown in Hawaii.
The 45-year-old historical price for a pound of raw coffee: $0.67 a pound in 1974, and $1.74 today. The highest price was last year, $2.14.
A cup of Starbucks coffee sells now for $2.75. In 2001, a cup of Starbucks coffee sold for $1.35. It costs only $0.62 to make a 12 oz cup of coffee at home!
It now costs $1.00 for Starbucks to make a cup of coffee. Of course, the 'fancy" coffees cost more, but also sell for more. Starbucks sales increased 18% from March to March this past year.
How often have I seen people at work with a cup of coffee from Starbucks? Twenty two working days a month, times twelve months, totals $726 a year, for plain black coffee, smallest size!
Perhaps it is time to rethink our coffee habit!

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