ICE Coffee Futures Close Higher by FC Stone

Arabica coffee futures consolidated higher on Thursday.  The active contract for December delivery closed 240 points higher at 128.45 cents per pound. The strengthening of the real, on signs of fiscal consolidation in Brazil, continued to offer support to the market, trading at BRL3.7985 at 4:00pm EST. Short term players pressured the market during the first part of the session, but reversed positions once the open interest figure was released. An unexpected decrease of the open interest of 1,483 lots, evidenced long liquidation rather than short covering as yesterday’s session had occurred, bringing the total to 189,338 lots. Reports of lack of rains in the Minas Gerais region of Brazil continued tocirculate. However, a cold front is moving by Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, and might bring rains to Parana, Sao Paulo and some scattered showers to the south of Minas Gerais. “Good flowering was observed and was quite uniform. So far,  we  haven’t  heard  of  any  flowering  abortion,  but  this  can  occur  if  irregular  rainfall  and  high  temperatures continue.”Dr Cesar Botelho, Coffee Researcher and Coordinator of the Coffee Research Program at The Agriculture Research Company of Minas Gerais (EPAMIG) said during in an interview. In other news, Brazil has asked for approvaluntil November 15 th  for payment to the ICO, after being suspended with no voting rights for non-payment of dues, due to insufficient funds in Congress’s budget. CECAFE reported 2.83 million bags of green coffee  exported from
Brazil during the month of September.