MOSCOW, May 15. The price of coffee beans on the world market has grown significantly over the past two years, so consumers, including those in Russia, often try to choose more cheap products — based on robusta grains; Nevertheless, the main contribution to the formation of the selling price of coffee in the Russian Federation is made by the currency component, said Ramaz Chanturia, General Director of the Roschaikofe association.
Wholesale prices for robusta coffee beans rose to their highest in almost 12 years due to increased demand due to higher prices for more expensive arabica coffee, Bloomberg wrote. “Russia, where the demand for coffee is also high, was no exception, also participating in the formation of demand for robusta. But the key thing for us is still the change in the value of the currency that has occurred over the past two months,” Chanturia believes.
At the beginning of the year, as of January 13, the dollar to ruble exchange rate in the Russian Federation was 67.8 rubles, on March 13 — 75.9 rubles per dollar, and on May 13 — 77.2 rubles; companies have to account for such dynamics in the cost and selling price of products, «and this is the most significant factor at the moment than the changes that Bloomberg wrote about,» he said.
Meanwhile, in themselves such serious changes in the cost of coffee on the world market were associated with a rather serious production crisis in Brazil the year before last: it is the main coffee producer in the world, it accounts for about 40%, the agency’s interlocutor recalled.
«The year before last, the price of coffee on the exchanges increased 2.5 times, and such a rather serious jump occurred quickly — within six months. Last year, prices fell slightly, but still remain at a very high level over the past 10 years,» he reminded He. As a result, such a sharp increase led to higher prices for finished products in all markets, causing changes in consumer preferences, such as the desire to choose less expensive coffee or reduce spending on these products.
World wholesale prices for Robusta in April 2023 amounted to $2.55 per kilogram, which is really the maximum since January 2012 — for Arabica — $5.06 per kilogram, said the Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Association of Producers and Suppliers of Food Products (Rusprodsoyuz) Dmitry Leonov. In turn, in Russia, a kilogram of natural instant coffee in retail at the beginning of April cost an average of 3.2 thousand rubles (a year ago — 3 thousand, plus 6.7%), and a kilogram of grain and ground coffee rose on average to 1.5 thousand rubles from 1.3 thousand (plus 10.5%).
Chanturia recalls that the dynamics of the exchange price of coffee is translated into retail with a certain lag. At the same time, robusta grains are more economically available as a raw material, since they do not require serious expenses for growing, and in terms of taste they are coarser than arabica coffee, therefore, they are about 10-15% cheaper than the latter, he noted.