True (Cost) Prices in the Supply Chain of Coffee A Sustainable Supply Chain Finance View
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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31039/plic.2025.17.358Keywords:
True Costs, True Cost Price, True Price, Fair Price, Supply Chain, Coffee, Supply Chain Finance, Sustainability, Circularity, Circular Economy, Rhineland Business Model, Full Costing, Absorption CostingAbstract
In this article, the coffee supply chain is studied from the perspective of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to determine the true (cost) price of coffee in a sustainable supply chain from a financial perspective (supply chain finance).
Besides mapping the supply chain from Latin America to the Netherlands, the distribution of five SME coffee distributors in the Netherlands is studied (using the case study method).
For the supply chain as a whole, the true (cost) prices are estimated using two techniques of true (cost) pricing: shadow pricing (supply) and willingness-to-pay (demand).
Sustainability of coffee production, storage, transport, packaging, and consumption in the supply chain involves many aspects.
Monetising the costs of externalities and ensuring fair prices (e.g., income/wages for farmers) is a complex matter; this study is perhaps a (first) step toward further research on this topic.
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