THE price of coffee beans is at a 13-year high — making our daily caffeine fix more expensive.
Wholesale prices shot up by 2.6 per cent to $2.64 (£2) per pound this week, the highest since 2011.
One pound of coffee beans can make about 30 cups.
Most big coffee chains have hiked prices by a third in the past three years, with a fancy latte now costing £5 in London.
Coffee bean prices have jumped 40 per cent in the past year after poor harvests in Vietnam and Brazil.
Supply chain disruption in the Red Sea has also played a part.
And coffee farmers in Vietnam are instead growing durian — the world’s stinkiest fruit — to cater for high demand from China.
Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, said: “Drought in Vietnam and farmers switching to other products is the main reason why [coffee] is trading at record levels.
The cost of your cuppa will likely rise further, although it’s worth remembering that only a fraction of the final cost is the actual cost of the beans.”
Beans are estimated to make up just ten per cent of a takeaway coffee’s cost. The rest is for packaging, equipment, wages and shop rents.
