250g of instant coffee would have cost you R42 in January 2022. In February 2024, that price had increased by 40% to R59.

The spike stems from a worldwide increase in demand for Robusta beans, which are used to make instant coffee. This is raising green coffee commodity prices, explains Mota Mota, Nestlé’s head of external communications in east and southern Africa.

Soaring shipping costs as well as supply issues in Vietnam and Brazil are also driving up the price.

As the biggest exporter of coffee in the world, Brazil exported $8.86-billion worth of coffee (20%) in 2022, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, a tool focused on international trade data. The second-largest, Vietnam, exported 7%.

Disruptions in weather or supply significantly impact prices. ‘[This] has indeed affected Nestlé’s production. As a result, this rise in prices has recently reached record high levels,’ Mota said.