Your daily Tim Hortons fix may cost a little more in the coming months thanks to volatile commodity prices.

 

Tim Hortons’ prices are closely tied to market rates for coffee, wheat, flour and sugar, which have been rising in recent months with gains expected to continue in 2011. “There is no question that volatile commodity prices are an issue for us,” said Tim Hortons Chief Executive Don Schroeder on Thursday, following the release of the company’s third-quarter earnings.

 

“We will work with our store-owners to determine what’s the right thing to do and what’s right for our customers,” he said. World coffee prices for instance are at a 13-year high, according to Scotiabank. Wheat prices were up 29% year-over-year in October. Prices are up “tremendously” because of weak wheat crops in Canada and Russia as well as Russia’s export ban that will last well into next year, said Scotiabank commodity expert Patricia Mohr. “I don’t expect prices to move down,” she said. To help cushion the impending blow, Tim Hortons has banked as many raw ingredients as possible. The company has bought up enough wheat, flour and coffee to make it through the first half of 2011 and enough sugar for the entire year, Schroeder said.