Coffee giant JDE Peet’s has antagonized retailers in the Netherlands after raising processed beans prices by a maximum 25%.
According to De Telegraaf on June 6, 2025, prices of aromatic coffee beans elevated to 10.69 euro ($12.59) per 500 g.
This development marks an aggregate 64% increment by the processing company in the course of 1 1/2 years.
The bestselling Aroma Rood brand of ground coffee is at the center of the hike, for it is a consumer’s staple.
It is for this reason that surpermarkets Jumbo, Plus and Albert Heijn immediately resisted the average 20% raise.
JDE Peet’s, which also owns Douwe Egberts, cites harvest declines in Brazil and Vietnam for the price ripples.
This is unlike what industry insider Gianluigi Ferrari, chief executive at Everest, feels is a profiteering move.
“They talk about price discipline…[but target] profits,” Ferrari said in a report that also appeared on Qahwa World.
In early 2025, the company announced 13.4% increment in 2024 profits and shareholders earned buyback money.
Is Coffee Pricing under Pressure?
Such raises have necessitated appraisal of the real situation of coffee prices worldwide, which are lately down after prolonged strength since late 2024.
On July 6, rates in New York’s Arabica coffee benchmark lowered by -4.51% day-on-day, to $2.88 a pound.
The decrement began early July following ongoing but slowly progressing coffee harvest in Brazil.
By July 5, coffee was costing $2.8 a pound, down from the pricing heights of February and April 2025.
This follows forecasts by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) of a record global 2025-26 coffee crop, at 178.7 million bags.
Thanks to big producers like Indonesia, Ethiopia and Vietnam, 2026 supplies will counter falling Arabica volumes in Brazil.
Brazil’s Arabica supplies are currently up but could dip by -6.6% y-o-y in 2025-26, according to the national agency, Conab. Perhaps the decrement in the future is the main prompt for JD Peet’s increases of processed coffee offers at the heart of Europe. The statistics below take the fight into the beverage sector of the Western European nation.
Netherlands Processed Coffee Statistics
Despite being a major player in virtually everything via re-exports, the Netherlands remains a medium size coffee market. Its biggest contribution in the coffee world is by being the 7th biggest importer of green coffee beans in Europe. In 2020, it imported 176,000 tonnes of green coffee or 4.9% of all continental imports, according to the Netherlands’ CBI.
Its second contribution is that of being a huge exporter and re-exporter. In 2024, it ranked 9th worldwide by exporting 2.7% of world’s coffee, ahead of tropical growers Honduras, India, Uganda and Peru.
A third important role is processing and exporting roasted coffee. In 2020, the country’s total exports of roasted coffee hit 96,000 tonnes, the 3rd highest worldwide. In comparison, neighbor Germany roasts 572,000 tonnes of coffee a year, as of 2019, but retains a substantial portion.
Why is coffee often expensive in Holland?
The fact that the Netherlands relies on Brazil for 16% of its imports, as of 2020, makes it vulnerable to tropical weather forces. In 2025, a weather-related dip in Brazil’s Arabica crop forced JD Peet’s to raise prices by 64% in 18 months.
Do Arabica prices match those of Robusta?
The other downside for Holland when it comes to premium-priced products is that it depends on mainly pricey Arabica. As of early July 2025, Arabica worldwide was 80% higher in pricing than Robusta. This is vis-á-vis late 2024 when the difference was just 20%.