MILAN – Coffee futures markets recovered from recent lows during the last part of the week. After falling to a six-month low of 155.50 cents per lb on Wednesday, ICE Arabica’s main contract for September delivery gained 635 points in the two following days to end the week at 161.85 cents. Robusta futures prices in London seesawed during the week.
The benchmark price for September delivery lost $68 on Thursday, but resurged on Friday to $2,602.
The New York terminal received support from a stronger real and from shrinking inventories.
ICE-certified Arabica stocks fell on Friday to an 8-month low of 535,870 bags, of which 341,957 originating from Honduras and 151,464 from Brazil, mostly stored in the Belgian port of Antwerp.
ICE-monitored Robusta coffee inventories on Thursday fell to a record low of 5,273 lots, or 878,833 bags.
Arabica coffee futures also had support from recent heavy rain in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state that may delay the country’s coffee harvest in some regions
Coffee harvesting in Brazil took advantage performed well again last week, taking advantage of the low moisture in most producing regions.
According to Safras’ weekly monitoring, growers had reaped 66% of the 23/24 crop as of July 18th, which corresponds to an increase of 7% over the previous week. This is slightly above the same period last year, but well below a five-year average of 63%.
The Arabica harvest reached 58% of the expected production. The profile of the arabica crop remains positive in terms of yield, graining, and cup quality, says Safras. The conillon harvest is 83% completed and is heading toward its final stage.
In other news, Brazil’s Cooxupe, the world’s largest coffee co-operative, said the 2023 harvest in the areas where it operates reached 50.5% of the fields by July 14 – the quickest pace since 2020.
