BENGALURU: Not just essentials like fruits, vegetables and spices, but your daily dose of caffeine too is to get costlier in the state. Coffee sellers in Bengaluru said that due to inflation, the rates of coffee have gone up marginally in July and are set to increase further in the coming months. Customers may see a rate increase of anywhere between 10 and 25 per cent, depending on the brand and type of coffee.
Currently, filter coffee is sold at Rs 300 per kg, while instant coffee is priced at Rs 500 in some shops in Bengaluru. There has been a marginal increase from Rs 280 per kg for filter and Rs 450 for instant coffee in May and June.
Hotels and restaurants are planning to increase prices to meet the inflated cost of coffee and possibly milk in the coming weeks. The coffee in darshinis priced between Rs 10 and Rs 15 will see a hike of at least 10 per cent, said sources from hotel associations across the state.
‘Cost of raw material and transportation up’
“The prices of all items are skyrocketing and it’s not temporary. Our electricity bills have seen a considerable spike in the last two months. Our restaurant spaces are not owned by us and landlords have increased rents as well. If we don’t increase food prices, how will we meet our margins,” asked Praveen D Jathan, Member of Karnataka Hotels Association. Not just hotels, but homemakers, small eateries and coffee sellers are also feeling the pinch of increased prices across categories.
In Bengaluru, small shop owners selling coffee powder said the price of coffee beans has gone up. A bag of 50 kg used to be Rs 12,800, but it has gone up to Rs 14,000. “Earlier, we used to get 500 gm of coffee for Rs 200, now the prices have increased to Rs 220, and our monthly budget is shooting up,” said Sudha Kumar, a resident of Banashankari. Some coffee traders said they have so many other costs to look at, such as electricity tariff, quality of coffee and employees’ salary.
“Nobody realises that the cost of raw material and transport has gone up and also the machinery used to blend coffee beans are expensive,” said Shankar DR, Shyams Coffee, Srirampura. PC Rao, president, of Bruhat Bengaluru Hotel Association (BBHA), said,
“There is a chance that milk prices will be hiked by Rs 3-5 and coffee prices are also going up, which will not come down anytime soon. These are not temporary prices, they will last and to maintain quality we will have to increase prices.” He added that restaurants are selling coffee at Rs 12 per cup and it can go up to Rs 15-20 in some places.
Coffee growers take
Karnataka Planters’ Association Chairman Mahesh Shashidhar said, “The prices are increasing in the international market and the weather has been adverse for the last couple of years. Even the prices of fertilisers used in coffee farms have increased by 10 per cent.” He added that the production per unit area per farmer is decreasing. He, however, said farmers are not getting a lot from the hiked prices.
Many are just recovering the costs incurred during Covid and many sellers are hiking prices on their own. “The inflation in coffee prices, as compared to last year, is just 5% and the costs in markets are constantly changing.” Robust coffee plantations have been affected the most by the change in the weather pattern. Delayed showers, extreme summer conditions and the cost to build good irrigation systems have increased the burden on the farmers around the state, said the planters’ association.