ICE Arabica Coffee Inventories Plunged 11% in October, Most Since 1998

By Marvin G. Perez

Bloomberg

October 31, 2011

Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Inventories of arabica coffee held in warehouses monitoried by IntercontinentalExchange Inc. tumbled 11 percent in October from September, the biggest decline since 1998, according to data from the exchange.

Stockpiles plunged to 1.267 million bags, the lowest since 2000 and down 30 percent from 1.817 million bags held a year earlier, data from the Atlanta-based exchange show. A bag weighs 60 kilograms, or 132 pounds.

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Related story…

ICE Arabica Coffee Futures Plunge By 5%

The Wall Street Journal

October 25, 2011

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Arabica coffee futures plummeted 5% Tuesday, as investors cashed in on a rally fueled by concerns that flooding in Colombia and Central America would hurt supplies of quality coffee this season.

At 11:55 a.m. EDT, arabica coffee for December delivery was trading at $2.3840 a pound, down 5% on the day.

"I think it's more liquidation and profit-taking," said Hernando de la Roche, a senior vice president at Miami-based brokerage INTL Hencorp Futures. "It's short-term specs. There's no (fundamental) reason behind this."

Arabica coffee futures had touched a nearly five-week high of $2.5250 a pound in earlier trade. Coffee prices also fell on London's Liffe, with robusta for January delivery down $51, or 2.6%, at $1,880 a ton.

"NY coffee and London futures slumped Tuesday after sell stops were triggered following ... failure at an overhead resistance level," said Brenda Sullivan, an analyst at London-based brokerage Sucden Financial.

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By Leslie Josephs and Neena Rai, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-4055; leslie.josephs@dowjones.com; neena.rai@dowjones.com