Arabica coffee hits one-month low amid summer slowdown, excess supply

NEW YORK/LONDON: Arabica coffee prices fell for the sixth straight session on Friday, settling below the $1 per pound level for the first time in a month, as global oversupply came back into sharp focus following a frost scare in Brazil.

COFFEE

* September arabica coffee settled down 0.9 cent, or 0.9%, at 99.75 cents per lb, after hitting a one-month low of 99.05 cents.

* "Oversupply (is) keeping values a bit depressed. (What's) surprising is the lack of buying even at the lower levels. Consumption has slowed down significantly," said Roger Bradshaw of Soft Commodity Consulting.

* The market has struggled to absorb a massive Brazilian crop.

* The contract shed 5.8% on the week, its worst weekly performance in nearly two years.

* Prices have slipped after a frost in top-grower Brazil earlier this month did not damage as much of the coffee crop as many had expected.

* Prices have also been pressured by the Brazilian real, which has steadily softened against the US dollar over the past week.

* A weaker real can encourage producer selling of dollar-denominated coffee.

* Arabica coffee prices will rise 14% by the end of 2019, bolstered by strong global demand and Brazil's entry into an off-year in its biennial production cycle, a Reuters poll showed.

* September robusta coffee settled down $14, or 1%, at $1,344 per tonne.

SUGAR

* October raw sugar settled up 0.02 cent, or 0.2%, at 12.02 cents per lb, closing at or above the psychologically significant 12-cent level for the third straight session.

* Prices gained 3.7% on the week, following two weeks of declines.

* Prices were likely to remain rangebound, dealers said, as the market has been caught between massive global stockpiles and expectations of reduced future production.

* Concerns about adverse weather in Europe and India are underpinning the market, as is data indicating Brazilian cane mills will further cut sugar output this year in favor of ethanol.

* Still, recent large deliveries of raw and white sugar against futures contracts have heightened worries over excess stocks and poor Asian demand.

* October white sugar settled up $1, or 0.3%, at $321 per tonne. The contract gained 1.4% on the week.

COCOA

* September New York cocoa settled down $45, or 1.9%, at $2,389 per tonne.

* On the week, the contract shed 3.2%.

* Market participants remained focused on trying to discern how exactly Ivory Coast and Ghana's "living income differential" of $400 a tonne will work.

* September London cocoa

settled down 18 pounds, or 1%, at 1,843 pounds a tonne.