Would Spaniards be willing to pay more for a sustainable coffee?
At Universidad Politécnica de Madrid researchers have analyzed the willingness of Spanish consumers to accept an increase in the cost of coffee if it is produced ethically.
29.10.2024
Spaniards love coffee. In fact, according to the latest study published by the Federación Española del Café, annual coffee consumption in Spain reached 14 million bags weighting 60 kg and more than 14 billion cups of coffee are consumed each year. But would you be willing to pay more for your coffee if you were sure that it had been produced sustainably? That is the question that a group of researchers from the School of Agricultural, Food and Biosystems Engineering (ETSIAAB) at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and the answer is clear: consumers are willing to pay up to one euro more for the coffee if we are assured that it has been produced ethically and sustainably.
“Spain, as a coffee-consuming country and one of the most significant direct importers of green coffee grains in Europe shares a responsibility to ensure that this coffee has been produced sustainably”, explains Nesrine Merbah, researcher at the ETSIAAB and one of the co-authors of the study. However, more sustainable coffee often means a higher retail price”.
In order to test whether consumers would be willing to pay more for their coffee to ensure its sustainability, UPM researchers took two different sustainability certificates (Fairtrade and UTZ) and asked a sample of Spanish consumers if they would pay more for a coffee with this label.
Assuming up to one euro increase
“In both cases, the response was positive,” explains Merbah. In the case of Fairtrade certification, consumers would be willing to pay an increase of 1,481 euros for 250g of coffee, while for UTZ certification, they would assume an increase in cost of 1,379 euros for every 250 grams of coffee.
“The study points out consumer preferences through sustainability labels such as Fairtrade and UTZ, which indicates a growing awareness and demand for ethically produced coffee”, says the researchers adding that data such as the current ones are of great interest since can encourage the implementation of more sustainable practices among producers.
The fact that consumers are willing to assume the cost is good news for producers and companies as they will be able to adopt more sustainable practices that ensure or promote environmental and social responsibility without having to worry so much about increasing production costs. In addition, companies can take advantage of sustainability labels to improve their Corporate Social Responsibility (RSC), he concludes.
The study has recently been published in the international magazine Sustainability.
Merbah, N.; Benito-Hernández, S. Consumer Willingness-to-Pay for Sustainable Coffee: Evidence from a Choice Experiment on Fairtrade and UTZ Certification. Sustainability 2024, 16, 3222. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16083222