Coffee prices settle higher on signs of tighter global supplies

Coffee prices Tuesday closed moderately higher as ICE-monitored coffee inventories continue to tighten.  ICE-monitored arabica coffee inventories Tuesday fell to a 22-year low of 1.028 mln bags.  Meanwhile, on Tuesday, ICE-monitored robusta coffee inventories fell to a 3-1/4 year low of 8,931 lots.

March arabica coffee on Tuesday closed up +4.30 (+1.74%), and Mar ICE Robusta coffee closed up +18 (+0.80%).

Arabica coffee rallied to a 10-1/4 year nearest-futures high last Thursday on signs of tighter global supplies.  The International Coffee Organization (ICO) last Tuesday cut its 2020/21 global coffee surplus estimate to 1.20 mln bags from a Jan estimate of 2.41 mln bags.  The ICO also reported 2021/22 global coffee exports from Oct 1-Dec 31 fell -1.6% y/y to 31.289 mln bags.   In addition, data from Cecafe on Feb 2 showed Brazil Jan green coffee exports fell -14% y/y to 2.9 mln bags.