ICE Loosening Rules For Coffee Deliveries, To Allow Bagging At Warehouse

  NEW YORK - IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (ICE), home of the world's benchmark

arabica-coffee futures contract, is loosening the rules for delivery of beans

into stockpiles.

  Starting in late 2015, coffee dealers will be able to bag their unroasted,

imported beans at ICE-certified warehouses to be submitted into stockpiles, the

exchange said in a notice posted late Tuesday. Previously, the coffee was

required to be bagged at the growth origin.

  The change, which begins with the December 2015 arabica-coffee futures

contract, will allow coffee traders to import coffee in lined containers or

so-called supersacks - large woven plastic bags - and then put it into natural

fiber bags such as jute or burlap prior to grading by the exchange.

  Before the grading, the coffee may be stored in one of the large plastic bags

or a silo, according to the notice. The exchange also said that "the coffee

must be stored at all times in such a manner that the integrity of the coffee

as to country of origin, marks and container number ... is kept intact