The price of coffee has risen sharply in recent years: ground coffee and coffee pods are now 9% more expensive than last year, and even 29% more expensive than three years ago, according to consumer protection organisation Testachats.
Coffee made its way onto the list of products that became most expensive this month, said Testachats. Brazil – the world's largest coffee exporter – experienced the worst drought in decades, which caused poor harvests.
However, demand remains strong: coffee prices on international markets more than doubled by 2024 – something that is now also leading to price negotiations between coffee manufacturers and supermarkets.
For example, JDE Peet's (whose brands include Douwe Egberts, Jacqmotte and Senseo) wants to raise prices, and even stopped delivering when some supermarkets did not accept the increases. While the dispute has been resolved at Colruyt, the coffee is still not back on the Delhaize shelves. Testachats recommends trying out cheaper but quality-equivalent private brands to offset rising costs.
Chocolate, olive oil and ketchup
According to price trends monitored by the consumer organisation, overall food inflation came in at 3.39% for February 2025 – meaning it continues to rise.
Testachats has been tracking the prices of more than 3,000 products in seven supermarket chains (Albert Heijn, Carrefour, Colruyt, Cora, Delhaize, Aldi and Lidl) for three years, allowing it to calculate supermarket inflation.
Products containing cocoa also became especially expensive over the past year: dark chocolate is now about 33% more expensive than in February 2024, chocolate biscuits cost 26% more, and milk chocolate rose 24%. Orange juice (+20%) and olive oil (+19%) are also still on the list of strong risers.
Especially compared to January 2022, the start of high food inflation, groceries have become expensive. On average, a shopping trolley costs 28% more than then, ketchup is a whopping 81% more expensive than in January 2022, mustard 66% more expensive, onions 62% and olive oil 60%.
