VOCAL co-hosts the Sensible Pricing Salon at World of Coffee Geneva

With Emory University, IDH, and Solidaridad, VOCAL Network co-hosted the Sensible Coffee Pricing Salon in June during World of Coffee. The event’s purpose was to provoke critical and creative dialogue around sensible pricing in the sector.

 

VOCAL’s talk focused on value-sharing in coffee: from ‘price crisis’ to reciprocity and equity. Key points raised included:

 

• From late 2024 until mid-2025, a sharp rise in green coffee prices sent shockwaves through the buying side of the coffee supply chain.
• But that same price spike was something else entirely for coffee producers: a rare financial tailwind.
• To manage their margins, retailers have passed the pressure down the line: co
• Consumer prices are quickly and decisively rising.
• As retail margins recover and consumer prices stabilize, a strategic window opens to correct structural imbalances—particularly how value is distributed back to origin.
• Recalibrating origin pricing now isn’t idealistic—it’s visionary.
• And let’s be honest: higher green coffee (and especially farmgate) prices are only one channel for value to be shared back with producers.
• The opportunity is here. The groundwork exists. What’s needed is willpower.
• So let’s not waste this moment. The “crisis” buyers feared has already reshaped the market. Now’s the time to shape it to become deliberately reciprocal and equitable for producers.

 

Click here to read the full blog outlining the talk.