*
Central America, African, Asian origins sell as futures rise
* Price
differentials cut in several origins
* Brazil and
Colombia still hold out, prices firm
January
13, 2012
HAMBURG,
Jan 13 (Reuters) - A sudden surge in coffee futures this week prompted more
selling by origin producers in Europe's cash coffee market but Brazil and
Colombian exporters were unwilling to deal, traders said on Friday.
"Physical
coffee buying has been as difficult as hanging up wallpaper with one hand in
recent weeks, with a lot of producer dissatisfaction about low futures,"
one cash dealer said. "But the sudden jump in futures generated a lot more
willingness to sell in Central America, East Africa and Asia."
New
York ICE arabica coffee futures on ICE rose to an eight-week high this week on
sudden short covering.
"Several
origins cut differentials to quickly cash in on the rising futures,"
another trader said. "There was outside demand for Honduras with shippers
offering most grades at lower differentials. There was demand for main types of
Guatemalan beans for first half 2012 shipment along with buying interest in
high-quality Costa Rican beans."
Traders
said Ethiopian exporters started selling larger volumes late in the week and
Vietnamese robusta sellers also cut price differentials.
Honduras
High Grown beans for February/March shipment were quoted at differentials of 2
cents over nearby New York contracts <0#KC:> on Friday against 6 cents
over last week.
Ethiopian
Djimmah Grade 5 fell to 20 cents under New York from 12 cents under last week.
Kenya AB FAQ was at $1.15 over New York against $1.40 over last week.
Robusta
differentials also fell, with selling pressure ahead of the Tet/Lunar New Year
holiday season in top exporter Vietnam at the end of January adding to the
weakness.
Vietnam
Grade 2 robusta for February onwards shipment was offered at $70 over nearby
London robusta contracts <0#LRC:> against $90 over last week.
"Brazilian
and Colombian suppliers did not join in with the selling and were resisting
cuts in differentials because of harvest uncertainty," another trader
said.
Colombian
Excelso beans for February/March shipment rose to 28 cents over New York
against 26 cents over last week.
There
is concern that heavy rains have limited this season's output in Colombia, the
world's third biggest coffee exporter after Brazil and Vietnam.
Brazilian
differentials were marginally weaker with Brazil MTGB Fine for Feb/March
shipment at 5 cents over New York against 6 cents over last week.
"Brazilian
activities were mixed with the jury still out on the likely crop and the strong
export figures for December published on Tuesday giving some traders the
impression there could be tight supplies before the next crop," a trader
said. "I think only pretty smallish trade was done."
Official
crop forecasts in Brazil are for a record crop but private estimates are for a
fall.
---
Reporting
by Michael Hogan; editing by Keiron Henderson