Experts expect coffee price growth in Belarus

Coffee prices are mostly likely to grow in the near future due to poor harvest and exchange rate fluctuations, reports tut.by quoting the participants of the market.

Russian media forecast a 20% increase in the price of coffee in their country. According to Russian Agriculture Ministry, foreign supplies have raised coffee prices by 21.7% in January-May 2017 against the same period last year.

Industry watchers in Russia reckon the price of coffee in groceries and coffee-shops will grow correspondingly till the New Year. 

Experts in Belarus do not rule out either that coffee will become more expensive for consumers but forecasts are not as pessimistic as in Russia yet.

Aktai Iskenderov, the owner of companies that produce and distribute imported coffee underlines that coffee just like crude oil is a stock commodity subject to periodic price fluctuation. "If there is a drought in some coffee-producing parts of the world, bad harvest will trigger the growth of purchasing prices and eventually retail prices. However, we have not spotted a world-wide trend," he said. The expert added that the price of Robusta has reached its peak and is unlikely to grow further. However, he admitted that the situation with Arabica is different.

Mr Iskenderov reckons coffee costs for consumers can grow by 10% due to the surge in the Euro exchange rate.

Another expert confirmed to tut.by that coffee prices were expected to grow 5-10%. He adds that even if the coffee price grows 20%, consumers are unlikely to grow their income correspondingly. Hence, sellers may simply incur losses.