Arabica coffee prices rise on Brazil weather concerns
Arabica coffee futures rose on Thursday, lifted by light fund buying against a backdrop of scarce producer selling in Central America.
* ICE March arabica coffee settled up 1.9 cents, or 1.84 percent, at $1.053 per lb.
* “There’s some nervousness that you don’t have a lot of surplus if there is a short-fall to provide the basis for concerted price pressure from these levels,” Steven Platt,futures strategist at Archer Financial, said.
* Dealers said the market was supported by light speculative buying after prices held up well in the face of recent attempts to break through key technical support levels.
* Volumes were light, though, with producers reluctant to sell beans at current levels, dealers said.
* March robusta coffee rose $25, or 1.6 percent, to $1,548 a tonne.
* Prices slipped to a three-week low of $1,507 a tonne on Wednesday, pressured by a pick-up in selling in top grower Vietnam ahead of the Tet holiday, dealers said.
* Coffee shipments from Vietnam are expected to jump in January as traders rush to fulfil orders before next month’sweek-long Lunar New Year holiday.
