MILAN — Robusta coffee futures eased yesterday from Tuesday’s highs ending the day (March) at $3,156 having reached an intraday peak of $3,174. Ice Arabica lost 605 points due to the real weakness to close at 179.2 cents per lb, the lowest level since late November.
Robusta prices skyrocketed due to a variety of logistical, climatic, political, technical and commercial factors.
El Niño continues to negatively impact Asian production, particularly in Indonesia, where the Robusta harvest is down by around 20%.
In Vietnam, production prospects are still uncertain. The Agriculture Department estimated this year’s harvest, now over, down 10% to 1.656 million MT.
The figure is in line with the median estimate of a Bloomberg survey conducted among 9 professionals, which gives a result of 1.66 million.
In other news, the Certified Arabica coffee stocks held against the New York exchange were seen to decrease by 2,256 bags yesterday, to register these stocks at 259,190 bags, with 97.90% of these certified stocks being held in, Europe at a total of 253,739 bags and the remaining 2.10% being held in the USA at a total 5,451 bags, reports I. & M. Smith.
Of this, a total 56,270 bags, or 21.71% of the coffees registered and stored in consumer country certified warehouses of the exchange, are Brazil washed Arabica, and a further 60.29% of these certified coffees, originating from Honduras.
There was meanwhile, an increase of 2,800 bags in the number of bags pending grading to the exchange; to register 53,180 bags pending grading on the day.
