The cost of a takeaway coffee was an average $4.84 in December. File photo. Photo: 123rf
New Zealand coffee drinkers are being warned price rises are likely - but maybe not to the extent that Australians are expecting.
Australian Restaurant and Cafe Association chief executive Wes Lambered warned this week that the cost of a coffee "could reach double digits" in some capital cities due to the high price of beans.
In New Zealand, according to Stats NZ, a takeaway coffee was an average $4.84 in December, up from $3.65 10 years earlier.
But it is not uncommon to pay a couple of dollars more.
Flight Coffee managing director Richard Corney said he did not think cup prices would reach $10 in New Zealand. "Certainly not this year. But cup prices, along with retail prices, are going up. It's unavoidable and completely necessary."
He said there were two reasons - short supply in Brazil and supply constraints in Vietnam were having a lagging effect, which had pushed the coffee commodity price to a 50-year high.
"The weak NZD isn't helping either but the fact is coffee by the cup has been too cheap for too long and there needs to be reconciliation of sorts.
"Hospitality operators in NZ have been subsidizing their cup prices to consumers for too long. Keeping prices low to either compete or out of fear of losing business has meant prices have been kept arbitrary low and we've created this expectation with consumers that '$4.50 is the price'. This is not sustainable given the increase in operation costs over the last five or so years and we're seeing cafés close at remarkable rates. "
He said coffee consumers needed to be prepared to pay more.
"Coffee roasters simply cannot absorb the significant reduction in margin that as a result of the high commodity price and café operators can't wear the inevitable increases that are coming as a result.
"No one is immune to this, multinationals the likes of Starbucks and Nestle, McDonalds… Retail brands in the supermarkets, every industry stakeholder is impacted by this and ultimately so will the consumer. It's unfortunate we're not talking more about this because what's happening right now is unprecedented."
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