Arabica Coffee Firms From Five-Week Low; Cocoa Steadies

  NEW YORK   -   Arabica-coffee prices recovered from a five-week low on Monday as traders wait for

estimates from Brazil's government on how a severe drought affected the top producer's crop this

year.

Arabica coffee for July delivery was up 0.6% at $1.8495 a pound on the ICE Futures U.S. exchange.

  Prices of the coffee, favored for gourmet blends, have gained 67% this year after Brazil's worst

drought in decades stunted coffee cherries' growth and sparked worries over the size and quality of

the crop.

  But many coffee dealers and buyers, including Starbucks Corp., have said it is too early to tell

the extent of the damage, since growers only started picking the cherries a little over a month ago.

Arabica futures last week tumbled 9.5% on a lack of news about the crop.

  "I think you're getting bargain buying in the coffee," said Sterling Smith, a futures specialist

at Citigroup. "That would inspire some short-covering and get the roller coaster moving up the

hill."

  Conab, the Brazilian government forecaster, is expected to release its estimates for the coffee

crop on Thursday.

  Cocoa for July delivery was nearly unchanged at $2,863 a ton after settling at a more than

three-month low in the previous session. Favorable weather in West Africa, where more than

two-thirds of the world's cocoa is grown, has encouraged selling of the futures because it could

boost supplies of the key chocolate ingredient. Investors had been expecting global supplies to fall

short of demand for a second year in a row.

  Raw sugar for July was up 0.3% at 17.25 cents a pound, while July orange-juice concentrate was

0.4% higher at $1.6105 a pound.

July cotton was down 0.6 at 91.81 cents a pound.