US arabica coffee ended modestly lower on Tuesday in quiet dealings ahead of the US holiday, pressured by harvest progress in top producer Brazil, traders said. "There was some follow-through short-covering buying coupled with some fund buying that helped support the market, and got us back up to $1.1100," one trader said.
The NYBOT agricultural commodities market will be closed for the US Independence Day holiday on Wednesday and will reopen for regular trade on Thursday. NYBOT open-outcry benchmark September inched down 0.90 cent at $1.1110 a lb, moving from $1.1030 to $1.1185, while the rest settled in a range from 0.55 cent to 1.10 cent lower.
On the ICE New York Board of Trade electronic platform at 1:50 pm EDT (1750 GMT), September coffee was down 0.85 cent at $1.1115 a lb. In London, robusta futures consolidated lower in choppy two-way speculative trade. The Liffe September coffee finished down $19 at $1,887, with trades spanning from $1,878 to $1,907. NYBOT estimated 4,171 lots traded in New York open-outcry while traders estimated 11,500 had traded on the ICE platform by 1:05 EDT.
This compares to the 4,357 lots officially tallied in floor trade on Monday, when a 14,041 contracts traded on the ICE screen. As of July 2, open interest rose 1,287 lots to 156,595 contracts. In top coffee producer Brazil, DTN Meteorlogix said mostly dry conditions and near to above-normal temperatures will continue through Saturday.