Coffee Falls for a Fifth Day on Stable Stockpiles; Cocoa Drops

Coffee fell for a fifth day in New York, heading for the longest losing streak since July, amid stable stockpiles before harvesting begins in Central America and Colombia. Cocoa slid.

Coffee inventories in Europe were 13.66 million bags on July 31, according to the European Coffee Federation. The port of Antwerp has the top global stocks, Wim Dillen, senior business development manager, said in a Sept. 14 interview. Central America will harvest its largest coffee crop since 1999- 2000, data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture show.

“Global stocks, which could have suffered a sharp fall with reduced exports from Brazil in the last months, have been stable,” Rodrigo Costa, a contributor for Sao Paulo-based consultancy Archer Consulting, said in a report yesterday. Inventories are unlikely to be drawn down, he said.

Arabica coffee for December delivery dropped 2.9 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $2.575 a pound by 8:45 a.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. Robusta coffee for November delivery slid $40, or 1.9 percent, to $2,069 a metric ton on NYSE Liffe in London.

Prices also retreated as commodities fell after European policy makers failed to introduce a plan to stem the region’s debt crisis. The S&P GSCI Spot Index of raw materials declined as much as 1.1 percent, dropping for a second session. The dollar strengthened, making commodities priced in the currency more expensive in terms of other monies.

Bullish Bets

Hedge-fund managers and other large speculators decreased their net-long position in New York coffee futures in the week ended Sept. 13, according to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data. Net-long positions, or bets on higher prices, fell 3 percent from a week earlier, the CFTC’s Commitments of Traders report showed.
Cocoa for December delivery retreated $37, or 1.3 percent, to $2,755 a ton in New York. Cocoa for December fell 18 pounds, or 1 percent, to 1,789 pounds ($2,809) a ton in London.

Raw sugar for March delivery rose 0.32 cent, or 1.2 percent, to 26.63 cents a pound on ICE, rebounding from a 6.6 percent decline on Sept. 16. White, or refined, sugar for December delivery gained $1.20, or 0.2 percent, to $688.40 a ton on NYSE Liffe after posting a third straight weekly decline last week.

“Heavy deliveries against the London white futures October contract pressured prices and led to the selloff,” Paul Deane, an economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., said in a report today.