Purchasing differentials little changed on European coffee market

Purchasing differentials on the European cash coffee market were little changed this week, with strong demand for nearby contracts and very little interest from major industry players who have ample supplies in stock, traders said. "There was strong demand for coffee from some Central American countries, good interest for Indian robusta," one trader said.
"The industry is well covered, much better than trade expected them to be at this time of the year." World coffee exports totalled 7.99 million 60-kg bags in January, running behind the previous year, the International Coffee Organisation said. The total compared with 8.87 million in January 2011.
Exports for October to January, the first four months of the 2011/12 season, were 32.59 million bags, down 3 percent from the 33.61 million bags exported over the same period the previous year, ICO data showed. "There is very little demand for Brazilian coffee due to high prices," another trader said. "We hardly see any shipments from Vietnam. Origin sellers are reluctant to sell and hope that prices will go up."
Vietnamese coffee farmers held back on sales on Tuesday as global prices fell after last week's brisk trade which helped push prices to a 2-1/2 month high. Germany's Commerzbank said in a report this week that a robusta price hike in the first half of February brought additional supplies to the market. "The price rise was additionally supported by speculative financial investors, who in the week to 21 February started betting on increasing Robusta prices again for the first time since mid-October 2011," it said.