Some local coffee companies told the Scripps News Group in San Diego they were already getting hit pretty hard before these tariffs even happened.
“The coffee industry has been hit hard over the past nine months,” said Jeff Taylor, President of Bird Rock Coffee. “Beginning last September, the C-Market — which is the commodities market which set the base level pricing for coffee — it started around $2.30 and in the last month it’s been as high $4.65.”
Taylor said the tariffs could be the icing on the cake for a good that’s already seen rising prices with hopes of that C-Market price dropping. And he’s not the only company in town seeing coffee prices jump.
"My inventory for these beans has double in the 12 months,” said Tom Ryan, Dir. Of Operations & VP Ryan Bros. Coffee.
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Ryan mentioned previous supply chain issues and a lack of production in other coffee producing countries as contributors to the price increases prior to the tariffs implemented by President Donald Trump.
“Then, of course the tariffs are only going to increase the price," he said. "So like for instance Brazilian coffee will increase about 10% which will be about 30 or 40 cents more per pound."
Ryan said their business will adjust as the tariffs play out.
“When it comes to coffee, right now because of the tariffs and really the price in general, we will run thin inventory. And some of our customers might notice a little less inventory on the shelf in terms of origins,” he said.
Other products that come from other countries with high tariffs being slapped on them could be another challenge.
“We’re trying to keep our prices right where they are for the time being. But, we reserve the right over the next month or two or three, as our paper goods start run out to see what tariffs are doing at that point,” Taylor said. “Because those 30% tariffs on China and Vietnam are going to be high.”
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There’s still a lot of wait and see with the tariffs to see if any price hikes will happen.
“We’re hopeful we can kind of just maintain and see how this all flushes out in the long haul,” Taylor said.
“We kind of wait the storm out. You know, it’s a storm right now. We’re going through change. So, we’re not going to overreact to that. We’re just going to be frugal. We’re going to be efficient,” Ryan said.
This story was originally published by Ryan Hill with the Scripps News Group.
