‘Unsustainable’: Rising costs push coffee roasters into bitter reality

“It's been a slow boil for the last two years,” said Matt Lamason. (Image: Babiche Martens)

Thu, 19 Dec 2024

The companies responsible for getting New Zealanders through the workweek are struggling to get through theirs.Bad weather in the world's two largest coffee-producing countries, Brazil and Vietnam, has hit supply as global demand for the product grows, causing prices to rise above a nearly 50-year-old record last week.US Coffee C Futures, the world benchmark for Arabica coffee, which is about 70% of global supply, grew 72% to US$3.25 a pound (NZ$12.41 a kilo) in the year to Dec 17. Alice Burton, the head of operations at John Burton, t...

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