Why has tequila become more expensive?

The price of blue agave rose to about 32 pesos per kilo and then dropped back to 0.8 to 8 pesos in 2025 and 2026.

Agave is a crop with a long turnaround time. The plants being harvested now were planted years ago, when the price was high. The planted area grew to 214,621 hectares, an increase of 167 percent compared to 2014. All that supply is now coming off the land at once.

A bottle that is on the shelf now is made from agave bought years earlier, so a lower agave price only takes effect much later.

Mexico still made 651.5 million litres of tequila in 2022 and 495.8 million litres in 2024. At the end of 2023 about 525 million litres were in storage. Between harvest and shelf there are also casks, glass, transport and taxes, and those costs do not move along with the agave market.

Since 1 January 2024 the Netherlands has charged 18.27 euros of excise duty per hectoliter per percent of alcohol by volume, and 21 percent VAT is added on top.

For a 70 centilitre bottle with 40 percent alcohol, that comes to 5.12 euros of excise duty, before VAT. At 38 percent it is 4.86 euros. That rate applies to every spirit, including tequila.

Of the exported tequila, 278.62 million litres is one hundred percent agave, against 129.37 million litres of the ordinary category.

In the Tequila category the musts may be topped up with other sugars, up to at most 49 percent of the total reducing sugars. With one hundred percent agave this is not allowed, so more agave goes into each bottle. That category must also be bottled in Mexico, within the area of the designation of origin, so that glass is shipped instead of tank contents.

A reposado spends at least two months in wood, an añejo at least a year and an extra añejo at least three years.

For añejo and extra añejo the standard prescribes casks of at most 600 litres. Every year in the cask is a year in which the drink is not sold and moisture evaporates. A blanco can go into the bottle almost immediately, and that helps the cost price.