ICE Coffee Futures Close Higher Ahead of Options Expiration by FC Stone

“C”  Coffee  Futures  for  the  most  active  contract  for  March  delivery  settled  45  points  higher  at  120.15  cents  per  pound  ahead  of December options expiration tomorrow, November 12 th  and first notice day on November 19 th . Volume reached 60,150 lots including 23,753 switches. The most active switch between December and March reached a high of -3.20, closing at -3.40, with volume reaching 17,420.
On weather news, SOMAR reported typical summer sunny, hot days with showers in the afternoons in Brazil, while awaiting the cold front along the coast of Brazil next week. However, in the south of Minas Gerais, at high altitudes, there might be risk of hail damage.
 
The Brazilian real recovered today against the dollar; on rumors that Finance Minister Joaquim Levy might be replaced by former central bank  president  Henrique  Meirelles,  giving  support  to  coffee  prices.  The  Brazilian  real  traded  at  BRL  3.7610  at  3:00  pm  EST  and  the Colombian peso closed at COP 2942.
 
As options expiration for December arrives tomorrow, we see open interest highest in the 150 Calls, with an open position of 7,324, yet the most active were the 120 Calls, trading 230 lots today. For the Put side, we see the highest open interest in the 110 puts at 3,481, and highest volume in the 115 Puts, trading 827 lots.
 
The ICO increased their global coffee production figure for this past coffee year by 1.6 million bags, to a total of 143.3 million bags for the period from October 2014 to September 2015.