StoneX’s SVP Albert Scalla Joins Varney & Co to Discuss Coffee Prices
Key Takeaways
- Coffee prices are up almost 40% since last yea
- StoneX’s SVP of Trading Scalla says of Americans “we cannot grow our own…”
- There is currently a 50% tariff by the Trump administration on coffee imports from Brazil
Step into any coffee shop or walk down the coffee aisle at the grocery store, and it’s easy to see that coffee prices are up, way up. According to the BLS, roasted coffee prices have surged by a substantial 40.6% year over year, reaching US$8.872 per pound, the highest level recorded since the beginning of the historical series in the 1980s. That increase is the highest among any other item tracked by government statistics.
Albert Scalla, SVP of Trading at StoneX, joined Varney & Company on Fox Business News to give his insight into the uptick in prices. His reasoning behind high coffee prices is simple. “We cannot grow our own coffee here in the United States. We need to depend on the tropics for this growth. And the primary country of growth [is] Brazil.” According to trade figures, the country is the largest exporter of green coffee beans to the U.S
Bad weather has significantly impacted production around the globe.
Over the past several years, adverse weather conditions, including droughts, frost, and heatwaves, have affected the health of crops across coffee-producing regions.
Weather is not the only factor driving the increase in coffee prices. As seen with other countries around the world, the Trump administration has decided to implement a 50% tariff on Brazil. That means the cost of a shipping container filled with coffee will be approximately $68,000 more than it was over the summer. Before the tariffs, green coffee was selling for $2.77 per lb. Today, the same pound of green coffee costs buyers $3.81 per pound.
As is often the case with tariffs levied against businesses or importers, the costs are being passed on to the consumers. While some coffee shops are raising their prices across the board, some have decided instead to implement a temporary surcharge that covers the costs of what they hope will be temporary tariffs. Adding a surcharge to all transactions, rather than implementing an item-based price increase, reduces the burden on individual customers by spreading it across a broader scale and volume of sales. One coffee company CEO commented that the minute the tariffs lift, they will immediately end their surcharge.
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-Writer: Dan Morales
-Expert: Albert Scalla, StoneX Senior VP of Trading for Coffee, Cocoa, and Palm Oil
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