Arabica coffee prices climb on supply tight
Arabica coffee futures on ICE rose on Tuesday, buoyed by short-term supply tightness as exchange stocks continued to fall.
December arabica coffee KCc1 was 1.3% up at $2.1870 per lb at 1436 GMT.
Dealers said the front month was trading at a premium to more distant contracts, reflecting short-term supply tightness driven by crop problems in Colombia and downward revisions to this year’s estimates for Brazil’s crop.
Colombia produced 834,000 60kg bags of washed arabica coffee in September, the national coffee federation said on Monday, down 31% from the same month last year.
ICE-certified arabica stocks also continued to fall, standing at 417,306 bags on Oct. 3 – the lowest in 23 years.
The longer-term outlook, however, remained bearish after good flowering of next year’s crop in Brazil with the recent weather seen as near-ideal.
November robusta coffee was little changed, rising 0.05% to $2,174 a tonne.
Food giant Nestle on Tuesday pledged to spend more than 1 billion Swiss francs ($1.01 billion) by 2030 on efforts to source coffee sustainably, more than double its previous pledge, saying challenges linked to climate change pose particular risks for the bean.
