How Rising Fuel Prices in the Philippines Affect Coffee Roasters
Fuel prices in the Philippines have been increasing with near-weekly adjustments. While most consumers feel this at the pump, the impact reaches coffee roasters much earlier—quietly influencing coffee pricing long before it reaches cafés and homes.
For specialty coffee roasters like Everyday Coffee Roasters (ECR), fuel is not a background expense. It is a core cost driver that affects sourcing, roasting, packaging, and delivery across the entire coffee supply chain.
Why Fuel Prices Matter to Coffee Roasters
Coffee roasting depends on movement and energy. Every stage of coffee’s journey—from origin to final delivery—relies on fuel. When fuel prices rise in the Philippines, costs increase across transportation, energy use, packaging, and logistics.
These costs do not rise independently. They compound over time.
Green Coffee Transportation Costs and Fuel Prices
Before coffee is roasted, green beans move multiple times. In the Philippine context, this includes transport from farms to mills, provincial trucking to ports or warehouses, and delivery to urban roasteries.
Each step relies heavily on diesel-powered logistics. Weekly fuel price hikes—often ₱1 to ₱2 per liter—incrementally increase trucking and handling costs. For roasters, this results in higher landed costs per kilo of green coffee, reduced pricing stability, and increased cash flow pressure.
Fuel price increases affect coffee costs before roasting even begins.
Roasting Coffee Is Energy-Intensive
Roasting coffee requires consistent and controlled energy. In the Philippines, many roasteries use LPG or gas-fired roasting machines, while electricity pricing is indirectly influenced by fuel costs. Backup generators, common during power interruptions, rely on diesel.
As fuel prices rise, per-batch roasting costs increase. Roasters cannot reduce energy usage without compromising roast quality, consistency, and flavor development.
Packaging Costs Rise with Fuel Prices
Coffee packaging is closely tied to fuel and energy markets. Foil-lined bags, kraft paper, valves, inks, and cartons are petroleum-based or energy-intensive to manufacture and transport.
When fuel prices rise, packaging suppliers gradually adjust prices. For coffee roasters, this leads to higher per-unit packaging costs and less long-term price stability.
Delivery and Logistics: The Most Immediate Impact
Fuel price increases are felt most immediately in coffee distribution. Courier rates, trucking fees, and fuel surcharges adjust quickly in response to pump price movements.
In both Metro Manila and provincial routes, last-mile delivery costs closely track fuel price trends. For roasters selling online, logistics becomes one of the most sensitive cost centers.
Why Coffee Prices Don’t Change Every Week
A common question is why coffee prices do not change every time fuel prices increase. The answer lies in cost absorption.
Coffee roasters typically absorb short-term fuel increases, averaging costs across multiple roast cycles to maintain price stability. However, when fuel prices trend upward over several weeks or months, absorption becomes unsustainable and pricing adjustments become necessary.
What Rising Fuel Prices Mean for Specialty Coffee
For specialty roasters like ECR, the goal remains constant: maintain quality, source responsibly, roast with precision, and operate sustainably.
Fuel price volatility challenges all of these goals. Small adjustments in pricing, shipping policies, or batch availability often reflect careful cost management rather than opportunistic pricing.
Coffee Pricing and Fuel Costs: The Bigger Picture
Coffee is not a short-cycle product. It is grown, processed, transported, roasted, packaged, and delivered over months.
Fuel underpins every step. As long as fuel prices in the Philippines remain volatile, coffee prices will continue to reflect not only global markets and climate conditions, but the real cost of moving goods in a fuel-dependent economy.
