Coffee prices in Canada have nearly doubled since 2020 and they\u2019re unlikely to come down, according to one academic.<\/p>\n
August saw Canadians paying almost 28 per cent more for store-bought coffee than they did last year, according to a September Statistics Canada report<\/a>. The price of coffee rose 81.3 per cent from 1979 to 2024 on an average annual basis.<\/p>\n Between 2020 and 2025 the monthly average retail price of coffee went from $5.36 to $9.30 for 340 grams, according to StatCan<\/a>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a 73.5 per cent increase over five years.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Due to coffee\u2019s robust demand, sellers will likely not lower their price, said Vik Singh, an associate professor in Toronto Metropolitan University\u2019s Global Management Studies department.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think I really see a way out of it. The only thing I can see is coffee prices might not increase as much as (they are) increasing right now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a few retailers who control the whole market,\u201d Singh added. \u201cIf I\u2019m Starbucks, why do I need to reduce my coffee prices?\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018A market risk\u2019<\/p>\n Two of the world\u2019s major coffee producers, Brazil and Vietnam<\/a>, faced major environmental events affecting harvests in recent years, according to University of Toronto marketing professor David Soberman.<\/p>\n \u201cGlobal warming is disturbing our weather pattern and it actually increases the likelihood of things that would cause destruction to supply,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Some of those factors could include storms, less predictable rainfalls and rising temperatures, he said.<\/p>\n Although coffee is a global commodity, meaning there are standard prices across markets, Soberman said swapping suppliers isn\u2019t always easy. \u201cYou may not be able to get exactly the quality of coffee that you want.\u201d<\/p>\n He said different coffee sellers, like Starbucks or Tim Hortons, rely on specific types of beans to create their signature products. That means they might not be able to easily swap from one country\u2019s coffee beans to another\u2019s, \u201cthat brings with it a market risk,\u201d Soberman said.<\/p>\n He did suggest that with ongoing climate shifts, it would drive producers to innovate.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019ve been growing coffee and harvesting it in a certain way in Brazil for 50 years,\u201d he said, \u201cyou probably haven\u2019t changed, but given that there\u2019s climate change, you may adopt certain practices and concepts that allow you to become more efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n Soberman advised Canadian consumers to look for cheaper purchase options such as homemade coffee instead of buying at coffeeshops while the price is high.<\/p>\n \u2018When you look at the long-term trajectory, it\u2019s always an increase\u2019<\/p>\n According to Dalhousie University\u2019s latest Food Price Report<\/a>, released Thursday, a quarter of Canadian households are food insecure and the average family of four will spend up to $994 more on food next year.<\/p>\n Canadian groceries have also had some of the fastest rising price tags in the G7<\/a>, Singh highlighted.<\/p>\n