Supplier hikes coffee prices again; Supermarkets disgruntled to charge over €10 for 500g

Douwe Egberts’ parent company, JDE Peet’s, is once again raising its prices. To the Dutch supermarkets’ dismay, coffee could soon become 15 to 25 percent more expensive, topping 10 euros for 500 grams, the Financieele Dagblad reported.

The Dutch supermarkets are furious. After very difficult negotiations with JDE Peet’s early this year, resulting in Douwe Egberts being unavailable in Albert Heijn, Jumbo, and Plus for weeks, they already accepted a price increase of approximately 20 percent. And now the coffee giant wants to hike prices again.

According to JDE Peet’s, the price increase is necessary due to disappointing harvests in Brazil and Vietnam. The poor harvests have increased the company’s costs. The recommended price for Douwe Egberts will rise to 10.69 euros for a 500-gram pack of Aroma Rood filter.

“I thought we had buried the hatchet,” Michiel Muller of Picnic told FD. “Coffee is slowly becoming a very expensive product.”

According to Aart van Haren of Plus, JDE Peet’s is increasing prices more than the failed harvests justify. Negotiations are again very difficult, and he does not expect to “come out of this smoothly.”

JDE Peet’s told the newspaper that they “only passed on what is truly unavoidable” in its price hike. According to the producer, the prices of green coffee have increased significantly in the past two years. “Mainly as a result of extreme weather conditions in large coffee-producing countries. Our goal remains to work well with supermarkets."

Shortly after the first price hikes early this year, JDE Peet’s reported that its profits increased by half in 2024, mostly thanks to higher coffee prices.