Why is my coffee so expensive?

THE CONSUMERS’ Association yesterday vowed to launch an investigation, after statistics published in Politis newspaper revealed that Cyprus has one of the highest coffee prices in the world.
In 1998, a price war between coffee-producing countries resulted in retail prices dropping around the world, but this was not reflected in Cyprus, which saw a 16 per cent increase in retail price, in relation to wholesale exports from Brazil.

According to the International Coffee Organisation, Cyprus also has the highest price of coffee per weight, with 200 grams costing 99.2 cents, compared with 55 cents in the United States.

Before Cyprus entered the European Union on May 1 2004, duty on imported coffee stood at 40 per cent and a staggering 86 per cent on ‘Greek-style’ coffee. But with import duty now abolished within the EU, the price should have dropped, according to the president of the Consumers Association, Petros Marcou.

He yesterday told the Cyprus Mail that “there is no justification for the high price of coffee and we will be looking into the matter immediately.”

One of the benefits of the abolition of import duty should have been importers bringing in greater volumes of coffee, which should have lowered demand, therefore lowering price – but this hasn’t happened.

After the 1998 price war, Cyprus did indeed lower prices, but this only lasted until late 2001, when prices rose steeply.

Maarcou said the Competition Commission should look into suspicions of price collusion between importers and entrepreneurs, given the similarity in profit margins. “The competition committee should look into it, if this is true.”

Cypriots, renowned for their love of the black stuff, consume approximately 4.6 kilogrammes of coffee per capita, per year.

Change in retail price in relation to wholesale export prices from Brazil since 1998.
Cyprus +16 per cent
Spain -10 per cent
Belgium -12 per cent
Denmark -23 per cent
United States -29 per cent
Brazil (export prices) – 65 per cent

Retail price in cents per 200 grams of coffee:
Cyprus 99.2
Denmark 75.2
Belgium 72.7
Spain 60.2
United States 55

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.