Skip to main content

Cocoa, Coffee Drop on Signs Debt Crisis to Cut Commodity Demand


By Elizabeth Campbell
Bloomberg

May 19, 2010

Cocoa fell for the first time this week on signs that Europe’s debt crisis may spread and reduce investor demand for commodities. Coffee also dropped.

Commodity prices declined to a 10-month low after Germany’s ban on some speculative financial sales raised concerns that debts in Europe will brake economic growth and lower demand for raw materials. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Index of 24 items fell for the fifth straight session and earlier reached the lowest level since July 17.

“Basically, outside elements are putting pressure across the board on all commodities,” said Phil Streible, a senior market strategist at Lind-Waldock, a broker in Chicago. “It just seems like risk is being taken off the table.”

Cocoa for July delivery fell $12, or 0.4 percent, to $2,837 a metric ton at 11:47 a.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. Before today, the chocolate ingredient declined 13 percent this year.

Cocoa hasn’t fallen further “because the British pound is holding some strength,” Streible said.

The pound, which is used to trade cocoa in London, rose, heading for the first gain in six sessions against the dollar. A stronger pound increases the appeal of supplies in New York.

In another ICE market, arabica-coffee futures for July delivery dropped 1.65 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $1.326 a pound. Before today, the commodity fell 1.3 percent this year.

On London’s Liffe exchange, cocoa futures for July delivery rose 10 pounds, or 0.4 percent, to 2,271 pounds ($3,258) a ton. Robusta-coffee futures for July delivery declined $29, or 2.1 percent, to $1,340 a ton.

-----
Editors: Michael Arndt, Daniel Enoch.
To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Campbell in New York at ecampbell14@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net.






Comments

Post a Comment

Join the conversation

Popular posts from this blog

Ethiopian Coffee & Tea Authority Relaxes Coffee Export Restrictions

  Ethiopian Coffee & Tea Authority Relaxes Coffee Export Restrictions  Addis Fortune November 14, 2020 Coffee traders can now send all grades of coffee beans to the global market, in contrast to the previous law that allowed them only to export the top four grades of coffee, according to a new directive issued by the Ethiopian Coffee & Tea Authority. Farmers and exporters can also directly ship the beans without going through the trading floors of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX). The new scheme allows fifth grade and under grade (UG) coffee beans, which up until now have only been supplied to the local market, to be exported. Coffee quality experts at respective regional offices of the Authority will determine the grade of the coffee. The Authority at its head office issues permits to the exporters every year, while regional offices are delegated to grant export permit to farmers who have at least two hectares of farmland. The Authority sets standard prices on a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Climate-hit Ethiopia shifts coffee uphill

Caffeine high? Climate-hit Ethiopia shifts coffee uphill Elias Gebreselassie Thomson Reuters Foundation June 3, 2018 HAMBELA, Ethiopia (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Few countries take coffee as seriously as Ethiopia - and that’s not only because it prides itself as being the source of the prized Arabica bean. But rising temperatures and worsening drought linked to climate change are now hitting production - and fixing that may require moving many Ethiopian coffee fields uphill, experts say. Aside from its cultural value, coffee is Ethiopia’s single largest source of export revenue, worth more than $860 million in the 2016-2017 production year. But coffee-growing areas in eastern Ethiopia have seen the average temperature climb 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.3 degrees Fahrenheit) over the past three decades, according to the Environment, Climate Change and Coffee Forest Forum (ECCCFF), an Ethiopian non-governmental organization. That has caused stronger drought ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The saga of the Starbucks-Ethiopia affair

Note :   The most recent developments on Starbucks vs. Ethiopia are listed below: January 9, 2012:  Has trademarking doubled Ethiopian farmers' income?   January 5, 2012:   Starbucks to showcase use of a QR code to trace Organic Ethiopia Sidamo® Coffee   ========= "When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. When the same two elephants make love, the grass still suffers." - derivative of an old African saying Life, before and after the agreement, remains unaffected for farmer Gemede Robe, the icon of the Starbucks vs. Ethiopia dispute. He lives in the Borena zone of the Oromia region, one of the many coffee growing zones of the country. (Photo: Courtesy of Oxfam America) By Wondwossen Mezlekia May 31, 2010 The coffee trademark dispute between Starbucks and Ethiopia officially ended exactly three years ago. In June 2007, the giant coffee chain and the government of Ethiopia declared their agreement "to work together to license...
Read more