Arabica-Coffee Futures Hit 4-Month High as Harvest Issues Mount

Leslie Josephs

     NEW YORK--Arabica-coffee prices rose to a four-month high Tuesday as dry weather in top grower

Brazil raised concerns over the size and quality of this year's crop.

     The December arabica-coffee contract on the ICE Futures U.S. exchange was up 3.4% at $2.0825 a

pound, after hitting $2.0975 a pound earlier in the session. That was the highest price since April

30.

     Brazil's coffee-growing areas are expected to remain mostly dry for the next two weeks,

according to São Paulo-based forecaster Somar Meteorologia. The lack of moisture could hurt

prospects for next year's crop. Early rains in July prompted some trees to flower ahead of schedule.

Dry weather following flowering could cause the trees to abort the flowers, which means coffee

cherries won't develop.

     Arabica-coffee prices have gained 88% this year after Brazil's worst drought in decades

prompted exporters, growers and analysts to lower their forecasts for this year's crop. Brazil is

the world's biggest coffee exporter and the source of around half of the world's arabica beans.

     Raw sugar for October was up 1.8% at 15.76 cents a pound, while December cocoa was down 1% at

$3,197 a ton.

     Cotton for December was 1.4% lower at 65.66 cents a pound before the U.S. harvest ramps up. The

U.S. Department of Agriculture expects the crop to reach 17.5 million bales, more than 35% larger

than last season's.

Orange-juice concentrate for November was down 0.4% at $1.4940 a pound.