Like last year we want to push the coffee industry to be more transparent and therefore let you know what kind of prices we payed for coffee during 2011. Most of you know that the coffee prices has been rising for the last two years, and as we speak the commodity prices for coffee is about USD 2,20 per lb. (450g) of green coffee. Although we are buying coffees that are valued a lot higher than the commodity coffees and where the value is based more on quality rather than supply & demand, the quality coffee prices are for sure affected by the commodity market as well.
Unlike in 2010 where we did buy a lot of expensive Cup of Excellence coffee and some other auction coffees that lifted the average price a lot, in 2011 we only sourced coffees direct from the farmers. The reason for this is to be able to buy fresher coffees and we also had better opportunity to do so as we have developed good relations to the producers we buy from. Instead of buying from many countries, we decided to focus on a few ones and rather get better coffees from these origins. We believe this has given us better value for our money. The average price for our coffees F.O.B (Free on board) in 2010 was USD 5,06 per lb. In 2011 the average price we payed per lb was 5,45, ranging from USD 4 to USD 7,55.
In 2012 we aim to get even better quality from the same producers as well as we will get to know some new origins that we have started working with through our sister company Nordic Approach. Ethiopia is one of the origins we will be getting coffees from this year and that is very exciting for all of us.
Before we list the prices we payed for coffee in 2011 please take a note that these are prices FOB, which means for unroasted coffee delivered to the boat that ships it to Norway. We still need to cover shipping cost that varies from where it is shipped from, storage, handling, roasting, packing, labour, rent, gas, electricity, etc, etc. I did a blog post last year that explains why quality coffee costs more and if you are interested I recommend reading it to get a better understanding of how these mechanisms work.
So, for those who are curious here are the prices we payed for coffee last year:
TW coffee prices payed in 2011
