Orange-Juice Futures Ease; Arabica Coffee Near Flat

  NEW YORK--Orange-juice futures eased Wednesday morning as traders took

profits after the market gained 1.1% during the previous session.

  Futures remained range-bound between $1.25 and $1.30 a pound for a sixth

session as the market waited for fresh fundamental news.

  "We're expecting prices to stay within this range until we get some weather

news or once we get that crop production number" from the U.S. Department of

Agriculture, said Boyd Cruel, senior analyst at Vision Financial Markets in

Chicago. The USDA was scheduled to release its first orange production forecast

of the season on Friday, but the partial government shutdown is expected to

delay that report indefinitely.

  Orange juice for November delivery on the ICE Futures U.S. exchange was

recently 0.5% lower at $1.2860 a pound.

  During hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, traders often

place bets that a storm could damage the groves and lower output in Florida,

the No. 1 U.S. orange-growing state. But the only weather disturbance in the

Atlantic is sitting off the coast of Africa, far from the shores of Florida.

The low-pressure area has a 30% chance of forming tropical cyclones in the next

48 hours, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

  "Just a lack of news right now is why we're going to see this market trade

sideways," Mr. Cruel said.

  Arabica coffee for December delivery on ICE was recently 0.1% lower at

$1.1495 a pound.

  "Traders remain bearish overall on coffee prices due to big supplies

available and only light demand," said Jack Scoville, vice president at Price

Futures Group in Chicago.

  Global supplies of coffee beans have swelled thanks to back-to-back bumper

crops from Brazil, the source of one-third of the world's coffee, and

recovering production from neighboring Colombia.