NEW YORK: US green coffee stocks totaled 6.2 million 60-kg bags at the end of October, falling by 261,353 bags to their lowest levels since June 2016, data from the Green Coffee Association (GCA) showed on Thursday.
It was the fifth consecutive monthly decline and the largest monthly drop since November 2017.
Colder-than-normal US temperatures, including on the east coast, were helping to bolster demand, analysts said. Nearly half of the stock reduction was in New York, where it declined by 123,647 bags to 1.7 million bags.
"Cold weather makes the demand for hot beverages go up," said Shawn Hackett, president of Hackett Financial Advisors in Boca Raton, Florida.
"That's a big number," Hackett said, noting that it suggested domestic demand was "blistering," particularly given that exports from top producer Brazil have also been high.
Brazil shipped 3.45 million 60-kg bags of green coffee in October, up 33 percent from a year earlier, boosted by a record crop, exporters association Cecafé said on Thursday.
While Brazilian exports have been strong, producers elsewhere have been more reluctant to sell coffee given how volatile and low prices have been over the past several weeks, dealers said.
"People in Central America aren't happy with prices, so they've been reluctant to sell," said Jack Scoville, a vice president of Price Futures Group in Chicago.
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