The impact of federal cuts and tariffs are being felt in places you might not expect – including your local coffee shop.
Many are having to raise prices. It's due to a string of global events driving the cost of coffee up.
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization said coffee production in Brazil and Vietnam, the largest exporters globally, slowed down last year due to dry weather. With less supply and increased demand globally, prices have steadily increased and don’t appear to stop increasing anytime soon.
According to the Associated Press, since 2023, global shipping in the Red Sea has seen disruptions due to security threats.
And most recently, USAID was cut by the federal government; it provided millions of dollars to support coffee farms globally. Without the financial resources, some countries are seeing lower yields for the product.
CNN reports with so much uncertainty and Trump’s impending threats to tariff other nations, prices have increased and fluctuated on the global market all year.
Kurt Osborne is the owner of Kool Beans Coffee and Roasterie in Brookings. He said with so many variables, it forces the hands of local owners.
“Well, it’s not an easy road to go down, but it’s one that you have to travel. And you realize that we’ve got partners and friends and customers and people that we care about that are going to be impacted,” Osborne said. “So, we do the best that we can with what we’ve got. The margins in the coffee business are pretty small anyway, so even though you don’t want to pass that along you’ve got to at some point. Otherwise, you’re not being a very good or faithful steward to your own business or to the coffee industry as a whole.”
Osborne said his shop locked in the prices for his beans ahead of 2025 as many expected tariffs to increase costs.
Trisha Larson is the sole owner and operator of Ginny’s Coffee in Philip. She said she’s been resisting raising prices, but her coffee bean vendor’s latest increases give her no other choice.
“I raised prices of my bagged coffee, I haven’t actually raised my coffee prices much yet just because everybody’s feeling increases everywhere right now,” Larson said. “I’m trying not. But eventually I’m going to have to pass some of it on to my customers now.”
Both Osborne and Larson say raising prices hurts – not for personal reasons but because it impacts communities that gather at their shops.
