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Coffee Falls to One-Week Low on Rising Dollar; Cocoa Is Steady


By Elizabeth Campbell

Bloomberg

May 17, 2010

Coffee fell to the lowest level in more than a week as the dollar climbed, reducing the appeal of some commodities as an alternative investment. Cocoa was little changed after slumping to a two-month low.

The greenback rose to the highest level since March 2009 against a basket of six major currencies, and the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 commodities fell to the lowest level since October amid concern that Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis would spread.

“A lot of people have been moving to the sidelines in commodity markets in general,” said Tom Mikulski, a senior market strategist at Lind-Waldock, a broker in Chicago. “The bigger traders have held, but they haven’t been buying. A lot of speculators remain in long-liquidation mode because there’s been too much uncertainty in Europe.”

Arabica-coffee futures for July delivery slipped 1.75 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $1.3255 a pound on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. Earlier, the commodity touched $1.32, the lowest level for a most-active contract since May 7.

In another ICE market, cocoa for July delivery rose $2 to $2,814 a metric ton. Earlier, the price touched $2,767, the lowest level for a most-active contract since March 16. The commodity dropped 6.8 percent last week.

Cocoa prices have had “a pretty violent slide over the course of the last couple days,” Mikulski said. “A big part of that has been the U.S. dollar rallying. The main cause of that has been the crisis in Europe.”

On London’s Liffe exchange, cocoa futures for July delivery rose 12 pounds, or 0.5 percent, to 2,230 pounds ($3,232) a metric ton.

Robusta-coffee futures for July delivery fell $24, or 1.7 percent, to $1,352 a ton.

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Editors: Daniel Enoch, Steve Stroth.

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

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