MILAN – Arabica coffee futures in New York fell to a 3-month low on Friday to end the week with a 9% loss. The most traded contract for September delivery settled down 540 points at $1.6485 per lb, having hit its lowest intraday level since January at $1.6405. In London, the main contract fell $73 to close the day at $2,676 a tonne, above Wednesday’s 1-1/2 week low.
According to Barchart, coffee prices were undercut by global economic gloom sparked by Friday’s weak U.S. and Eurozone purchasing managers reports.
Meteorologists said Brazil will experience above average temperatures and dry weather until at least the beginning of July, meaning limited risk of frost in the coffee belt.
Somar Meteorologia said Thursday there is “no forecast for a further sharp decline in temperatures for at least the next 15 days and conditions will continue to be favorable for harvesting and drying coffee beans.”
Safras’ weekly monitoring indicates that until June 20, Brazil reaped 39% of the 23/24 crop, which corresponds to an increase of 6% last week. Work exceeds the same time last year, when the harvest was 35% complete, but is below the average of 42% for the last 5 years.
The Arabica harvest comprises 31% of the crop, against 26% in the same period last year and the five-year average of 33%. The conillon harvest jumped to 56%, staying above 50% at the same time last year, but is still below the five-year average of 60%.
Cooxupe, the biggest coffee cooperative group in Brazil, reported that Brazil’s Cooxupe coffee harvest was 21.7% completed as of June 16, ahead of the 13.5% completed at the same time last year.
