Arabica coffee recovers from 2-1/2 week low

Arabica coffee futures on ICE closed higher on Tuesday, recovering from a 2-1/2 week low in the previous session.

May arabica coffee settled up 2.25 cents, or 1.2%, at $1.8255 per lb.

Dealers said, however, that coffee is likely to head lower from here after a slide in export premiums in top producers Columbia, Brazil and Honduras over the past week, indicating improved near-term supplies.

They also noted that ICE certified stocks continued to decrease, hitting the lowest level since last year at 763,700 bags on Tuesday.

Colombia produced 1.03 million 60kg bags of washed arabica coffee in February, up 10% from the same month last year, the national coffee federation said.

May robusta coffee was little changed at $2,152 a tonne.