Robusta coffee futures advanced to near a three-week high in European trading Wednesday, and technical charts signaled the potential for further gains in the near term.
January Liffe robusta coffee futures increased 0.7% to $1,574 a metric ton. Robusta has posted gains in recent sessions after storms caused delays to Vietnam’s bean harvest after Typhoon Haiyan made landfall last week.
Sucden Financial brokerage said short-term indicators suggest the potential for further gains to breach the technical 40-day moving average at $1,582 a ton.
«The smorgasbord of newly-formed bull arguments looks to stay relevant for the time being, with the exception of weather threats dissipating; the overall tightness looks to be here to stay for the front month,» Toby Donovan, softs broker at BGC Partners Inc. said.
«Whilst we may see flurries of selling coming from both profit takers and origin there may be some more juice to be squeezed out of old robusta,» Mr. Donovan said.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development announced it is seeking financial assistance from the government for coffee exporters to stockpile up to 300,000 tons of coffee in order to support domestic prices, an official with the Vietnam Cocoa and Coffee Association told The Wall Street Journal.
Vietnam is the world’s largest grower of robusta coffee beans used primarily to make instant coffee blends.
Agriculture Minister Cao Duc Phat said Tuesday his ministry had sent a request to the government.
Cocoa futures for March delivery were flat at GBP1,774 a ton, after the market hit a morning high of GBP1,784. In the prior session, the market touched GBP1,785 a ton— the highest level since Oct. 15.
Cocoa futures edged higher on renewed supply concerns in top grower Ivory Coast which in turn sparked off a flurry of buying, said Phillip Futures brokerage.
«Poor weather conditions proved to be unfavorable towards the West African crops, spurring worries of tight supplies especially when demand was expected to increase upon an improving global economy. The unfavorable weather conditions in top cocoa producer, West Africa, could place an emphasis on current demand-supply dynamics, thus supporting cocoa prices going forward,» the brokerage said.
White sugar futures for March delivery ticked higher 0.1% to $469.70 a ton.
Source: online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20131120-705077.html?dsk=y
Robusta Coffee Futures Near 3-week High
