US coffee futures dipped for the second consecutive session, with market participants focusing on spread trading a day ahead of options expiration, traders said.
The New York Board of Trade's front-month December arabica contract eased 0.15 cent to settle at $1.0675 a lbw, after trading from $1.0570 to $1.0760.
Non-commercial players have been rolling their positions out of the December contract ahead of its first notices day for delivery on November 18.
Many of the December positions have been rolled into the March contract, which likewise lost 0.15 cent to end at $1.1060. "There was a lot of concentration in the December/March spread. It was really a local dominated market," a trader said, referring to independent brokers.
Interest from industry and trade was thin, he said. With options on the December contract expiring on Friday, trading could be choppy as players battled for a strike price either at $1.05 or $1.10, the trader said.
Mexico's agriculture ministry said on Thursday the country's coffee exports reached 130,601 60-kg bags in October, up 31.88 percent from the same period a year ago.
Flooding and mudslides related to Hurricane Stan last months are believed to have damaged coffee in Chiapas, a top growing state. Mexico has yet to give an official estimate of crop damage.
Traders and analysts project total crop losses in Central America and southern Mexico following recent natural disasters at 1 percent to 2 percent of an estimated 108 million 60-kg bags of world output in the 2005/06 season.
NYBOT trading volume in coffee futures fetched an estimated 18,886 contracts, down from Wednesday's official tally of 23,378 lots.
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