Singapore among the world’s 10 most expensive countries to buy Starbucks, report finds

• Oct 01, 2019

Millennials, read this and weep: Singapore is among the 10 countries in the world where a Starbucks drink costs the most, according to a report published on Friday (Sep 27) by Australian personal finance website Finder.

The site compared the cost of a tall latte – converted to US dollars – in 76 countries around the world and used it to create a “Starbucks Index” ranking the prices.

Singapore came in eighth on the list, with a tall latte at S$4.50 (S$6.20).

Despite the name, a tall latte (350ml) in Starbucks lingo is considered a small-sized drink, with bigger options dubbed “Grande” and “Venti”.

Under Finder’s ranking, the city with the priciest tall latte was Copenhagen (US$6.05), followed by Arau (Switzerland), Vantaa (Finland), Macau, and Luxembourg.

On home turf in New York, the drink cost US$4.30, while Malaysia’s Selangor came in 54th at US$3.04 (RM12.70).

The priciest spots in Asia to get Starbucks were Macau (US$5.21), Hong Kong (US$4.60), and Singapore (S$4.50). Finder

Meanwhile the cheapest place in the world to get Starbucks is Turkey, with a tall latte coming in at a steal of US$1.78 a cup. The next cheapest places were Egypt, Colombia, Argentina and Mexico.

The cheapest place to get Starbucks in Asia was the Philippines’ Quezon City, at (US$2.69) a cup. Finder

To account for the difference in consumer purchasing power between countries, Finder plotted the GDP-per-capita for each country against the cost of a tall latte to create an average global trend line.

According to the data, Singapore’s pricing was over 5 per cent more expensive than the global average, after accounting for purchasing power, while Malaysia’s was 6 per cent cheaper.

Finder

Finder admitted its index was an “informal way” to compare Starbucks prices, and did not account for factors such as the cost of raw coffee, local labour costs, and Starbucks’ pricing strategies.

Source: https://www.businessinsider.sg/singapore-among-the-worlds-10-most-expensive-countries-to-buy-starbucks-report-finds/