Coffee Ends Higher as Bulls Cautiously Move In

Arabica coffee futures ended higher on Monday after traders took bets that the contract had finally found its bottom.

Arabica coffee for December rose 1.3% to end at $1.2555 a pound on the ICE Futures U.S. exchange.

Rodrigo Costa, director of trading at Comexim USA, said two sharp falls in the contract last week might have pushed some of the weaker bulls out of the market but for the contract to move higher, the currencies of Brazil and Colombia, the largest producers of arabica, will need to firm.

The favorable weather for the Brazilian coffee belt, along with coffee that is making its way to the market from Central American and Colombia, could encourage the bears if the market slips again, he said, despite most of the bearish news already being well known and a high number of short-positioned players in the market.

Recent rains and large stockpiles of coffee have added to the bearish sentiment. Societe Generale said in a note money that it thinks the market is "oversold."

"At this point the path is unclear," said Cazarini Trading.

In other markets, raw sugar for March rose 1.3% to end at 14.56 cents a pound, frozen concentrated orange juice for January was up 2.1% at $1.599 a pound, cocoa for December was up 2.7% to end at $2,117 a ton and December cotton rose 0.2% to settle at 68.85 cents a pound.

Write to Julie Wernau at julie.wernau@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 06, 2017 17:56 ET (22:56 GMT)