Record coffee harvests in Brazil, the biggest grower, are compounding a global glut of arabica used by Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) and Dunkin’ Donuts Inc.
Brazilian farmers will reap 50.8 million bags in 2013, a record for a so-called low-crop season, according to the median of nine analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The harvest reached 55.9 million 60-kilogram (132-pound) bags in 2012, an all-time high for a peak year. Output usually drops in alternate years because of growing cycles. Prices may fall 13 percent to $1.311 a pound by June 30, the average of 14 predictions shows.
Futures slumped about 50 percent since May 2011, as the highest prices in 14 years spurred Brazilian farmers to boost supply. Their exports jumped 54 percent to $8.7 billion in 2011. The flood of beans has continued and stockpiles tracked by the ICE Futures U.S. exchange are headed for the biggest annual gain in more than a decade. Rising costs and concern that economies are slowing encouraged roasters and consumers to favor cheaper robusta beans.
“There’s a significant crop coming from Brazil if the weather continues to be favorable,” said Claudio Oliveira, the head of trading at Castlestone Management LLC in New York, which manages about $500 million of assets. “Abundant supply is the driving force in the market.”
Worst Performer
Futures fell 34 percent to $1.507 this year, the biggest retreat of the 24 commodities tracked by Standard & Poor’s GSCI Spot Index, which gained 0.5 percent. Most agricultural products advanced this year, with records in corn and soybeans as drought parched crops from Australia to Russia to the U.S. The MSCI All- Country World Index of equities rose 11 percent. Treasuries returned 2.6 percent, a Bank of America Corp. index shows.
Brazil had record harvests in two of the past three seasons, almost doubling output in about a decade and now accounting for 38 percent of global supply, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show. About 72 percent of the country’s crop was arabica this year and the rest robusta, typically used in espressos.
Minas Gerais, Brazil’s top arabica-growing state, harvested 25.87 bags per hectare this year, up from 18.75 bags in 2004, according to Conab, the government’s crop forecasting agency. That’s adding to a global crop the USDA estimates will expand 7.5 percent to a record 147.9 million bags this season.
Frost Risks
Frost during Brazil’s winter in June and July may limit the drop in prices, said Marco Antonio dos Santos, an agronomist with Sao Paulo-based forecaster Somar Meteorologia. The last severe frost to limit output was in 1994, when a low-season harvest plunged 36 percent the following season, according to data from the International Coffee Organization in London.
“A lot of the optimism about Brazil’s crop has pretty much been factored in, and any weather disturbances could take off 3 to 4 million bags,” said James Cordier, the Tampa, Florida- based founder of Optionsellers.com, a Commodity Trading Advisor.
Economic stimulus by central banks and governments from China to Europe to the U.S. also may revive global growth and boost demand for all commodities, said Kona Haque, an analyst with Macquarie Bank Ltd. in London. Some markets are already expanding, including in Brazil itself, where consumption jumped 12 percent in the three years to 2011, ICO data show.
Arabica cost almost three times more than robusta by September 2011, from a premium of about 39 percent in 2008. That’s since narrowed to about 74 percent as roasters switched blends to use the cheaper beans. Robusta traded on London’s NYSE Liffe exchange rallied 5.4 percent to $1,907 a metric ton (86.5 cents a pound) this year.
Robusta Switch
Robusta will rise to 46 percent of global coffee demand this year, from 40 percent in 2010, according to Volcafe. Consumption of the cheaper bean will rise 6 percent to 66.6 million bags this season as arabica advances 1 percent to 78.6 million, the Winterthur, Switzerland-based company estimates.
The demand is encouraging more robusta supply, which Volcafe predicts will exceed demand by 1.4 million bags in 2012- 2013, led by gains from Vietnam and Indonesia. Arabica output will surpass consumption by 6.3 million bags, Volcafe estimates.
Hedge funds and other large speculators had their most bearish bets on arabica since at least 2006 in the week ended Nov. 20, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. They have been wagering on lower prices in all but two weeks since February.
Source: businessweek.com/news/2012-12-03/record-brazil-coffee-crop-cuts-costs-for-starbucks-commodities
Record Brazil Coffee Crop Cuts Costs for Starbucks: Commodities
