Robusta Coffee Falls After Biggest Rally in 7 Weeks; Cocoa Rises

Isis Almeida - 2013-11-25

Robusta coffee fell for a second day in London after rallying the most in seven weeks last week on falling stockpiles and slow exports from Vietnam, the world’s largest producer. Cocoa advanced.

The beans used to make instant coffee and espresso gained 4.3 percent through Nov. 22, the most since the seven-day period ended Oct. 4. Inventories in warehouses monitored by NYSE Liffe slid 8 percent in the two weeks to Nov. 11, while shipments from Vietnam are forecast at 94,000 metric tons this month, data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development showed, 23 percent lower than a year earlier. Prices slid 1.4 percent in the last trading session.

“We don’t think that the story is over with robusta, but last session certainly cleared the decks,” Toby Donovan, a broker at BGC Partners LLC in London, said by e-mail. “Prices rallied last week on speculative short covering, low certified stockpiles, with expectations of further inventory draw-downs, given weight by the lack of coffee coming out of Vietnam.”

Robusta coffee for January delivery slid 0.6 percent to $1,567 a ton by 10:34 a.m. on NYSE Liffe in London. Arabica coffee for March delivery fell 0.6 percent to $1.069 a pound on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. Arabica futures trading volumes were 24 percent lower than the average for the past 100 days for this time of day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Robusta inventories in NYSE Liffe-monitored warehouses stood at 48,770 tons as of Nov. 11, data from the bourse showed. That’s lower than the 52,000 tons predicted by traders in August in a Bloomberg survey for the end of the year. Vietnamese shipments were 122,000 tons in November last year, according to data from the ministry. The season there started on Oct. 1.

Cocoa Gains

“Producing countries are expected to keep selling above $1,600 a ton and the bulls will certainly have some work to do in order to clear them,” Donovan said.

Refined, or white, sugar for delivery in March was unchanged at $464.10 a ton on NYSE Liffe. Raw sugar for delivery in March gained 0.1 percent to 17.42 cents a pound on ICE.

Cocoa for delivery in March advanced 0.2 percent to 1,769 pounds ($2,865) a ton in London. In New York, cocoa for March delivery rose 0.1 percent to $2,803 a ton.