The executive president (CEO) of Grupo Nabeiro – Delta Cafés admitted this Wednesday that “it is an absolute certainty” that the instability in the coffee market will have an impact on consumer prices.
Rui Miguel Nabeiro spoke to journalists at the end of the event, in Lisbon, during which the group’s main innovations were presented, including new product categories including Swee ice creams, Ootie ‘smothies’, and ‘snacks’ ‘ Unboring.
Asked whether the instability in the price of coffee raw materials could have an impact on the amount that the consumer will have to pay in the near future, the CEO admitted that it would. “I would say it’s an absolute certainty that it will happen,” he said.
“We have no way of sustaining alone and accommodating on our margins a 200% increase in Robusta coffee” compared to a year ago, continued the manager.
The CEO says that it is “absolutely impossible” for the group to be able to “accommodate” the rises in the price of raw materials in international markets, recalling that even the price of cocoa has been on the rise.
“All raw materials are rising a lot again”, for several reasons, including speculative factors.
“We are not speculators, we have to buy the coffee, we have to roast the coffee and the prices to be paid” are high, he continued, pointing out that “for the first time in history, Robusta coffee is more expensive than Arabica coffee”.
Vietnam is one of the major producers of the Robusta variety, which has a “very short production period”, Northern Europe, with the “rise in coffee prices”, say traders, began to introduce coffee into their blends robust, which was cheaper” and consumers didn’t complain, he explains.
And, suddenly, “we had an increase in Robusta and this happened” and it became more expensive than Arabica.
