Arabica-Coffee Futures Edge Up as Short-Covering Continues

Alexandra Wexler

  NEW YORK  -  Arabica-coffee futures extended their gains Tuesday morning as

short-covering continued to boost prices.

  "It still looks like short-covering right now, so I'm a little apprehensive

to say that we're turning this thing around," said Hector Galvan, senior broker

at RJO Futures in Chicago. "It almost looks like we could be in the red in the

next 20 or 30 minutes."

  Arabica coffee for December delivery on the ICE Futures U.S. exchange was

recently 0.5% higher at $1.1765 a pound, down from an intraday high of $1.1840

a pound.

   Brazilian coffee growers are expected to harvest 47.5 million 60-kilogram

(132-pound) bags of coffee this year, a record for an "off-year" harvest,

government crop agency Conab said this month.

  Traders say those big supplies should cap rallies around $1.20 a pound, a key

technical and psychological level.