US arabica coffee closed higher on Wednesday as position rolling out of the July contract into September ahead of the front month's first notice day on Thursday remained the dominant feature, traders said. "(There was) mostly speculative interest on the buy side; no index funds, no large funds in the market today.
London was definitely a precursor to the initial strength in the marketplace," one trader said. NYBOT open-outcry July coffee settled up 1.65 cents at $1.1500 per lb. after trading $1.1350 to $1.1520. Benchmark September gained 1.60 cents to close near the session high at $1.1740 after moving in a band from $1.1600 to $1.1745. The rest rose 1.55 to 2.25 cents.
On the ICE New York Board of Trade electronic platform at 1:54 pm, September coffee was up 1.70 cents at $1.1750 a lb. There was limited industry buying on the lows and origin selling on the highs, which kept coffee in a sideways trend, NYBOT dealers said.
In London, robusta coffee futures ended sharply higher on support from speculative and industry buying, dealers said. Liffe September ended up $45 or 2.5 percent at $1,918 after trading from $1,870 to $1,920. NYBOT estimated 12,186 lots traded in New York open-outcry with traders estimating nearly 18,000 contracts moving on the ICE screen by 1:25 pm.
This compares to the 10,354 lots officially tallied in floor trade on Tuesday, when 22,903 contracts traded on the ICE electronic platform. As of June 19, open interest fell 2,486 lots to 153,798 contracts. Weather, top coffee producer Brazil will remain mostly dry with near to above-normal temperatures through on Monday, DTN Meteorlogix forecast.
Meanwhile, coffee bean exports from Indonesia's main growing area of Sumatra fell 64 percent in the first five months of the year, as erratic weather cut output, the Indonesian Coffee Exporters Association said on Wednesday.