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Showing posts from June 18, 2012

Coffee drips to 2-year low

By Alexandra Wexler The Wall Street Journal June 18, 2012 A worker selects beans at a farm east of São Paulo. Photo: Courtesy of Reuters via WSJ Arabica coffee futures fell to a fresh two-year intraday low Monday as the market continues to retreat in the face of a projected record harvest from top producer Brazil. ICE coffee futures have tumbled 15% over the last month as analysts have predicted a Brazilian crop as big as 60 million 132-pound bags. Rains have slowed the harvesting of beans and delayed confirmation of the crop's size. However, hedge funds and other speculators continue to bet on a glut of supply from Brazil. "Everybody seems to be in love with the Brazil crop," said Jack Scoville, vice president at Price Futures Group. "They just keep selling because it keeps working." In the week ending June 12, speculative investors in arabica added 770 short positions, or bets that prices would fall, making speculators net-s...