"C" Coffee Futures Settle Lower by FC Stone

Arabica Coffee futures settled lower today, giving back today’s gains. El most active contract for March delivery settled 90 points lower at 126.05 cents per pound. Volume was modest with 23,029 lots traded, including 3,047 switches. Price action received support, initially as speculators continued covering short positions. The upward movement was slowed by origin selling, especially from Colombia, taking advantage of the weaker currency. The Colombian peso weakened today by 3.1 per cent, due to the fall of crude oil prices. Crude oil fell below $38 per barrel, levels not seen since February 2009. Open interest continued dwindling, evidence of recent short covering. Open interest declined by 2,012 lots to 168,292 open lots, the lowest level since last August. In related news,  Colombian  production  reached  13.8  million  bags  in  the  last  12  months,  13.2%  higher  than  the  same period last year, the FNC published today. In Brazil, the head of the group CNC announced that the harvest should reach between 47 to 49 million bags in 2016, curbed by the drought in Espirito Santo.