US coffee futures sagged nearly 2 percent to a 9-day low on Wednesday, pressured by selling from Brazilian producers and speculators reacting to technical price signals, traders said.
The New York Board of Trade's active December arabica contract fell 2.0 cents, or 1.9 percent, to settle at $1.0170 a lb. after trading from $1.01 to $1.05.
March slid 1.80 cent to end at $1.0495 a lb., while back month contracts lost 1.10 to 1.75 cents a lb.
Traders said stop-loss orders were triggered when the December contract fell below $1.0250, but met strong support at the low of $1.01, which was the bottom trade on October 17.
"We saw some technical selling and also Brazil has some good selling," said a trader, adding that producers in the world's No 1 coffee growing country were taking advantage of a weaker currency to hedge with dollar-denominated arabicas.
Brazil's currency, the real, slipped against the dollar amid renewed worries that rising interest rates in the United States could lure capital away from emerging markets.
Brazil's central bank has intervened 15 times this month to buy dollars to help build up foreign reserves. At 1:00 pm EDT (1700 GMT), benchmark dollar-denominated arabica futures in Sao Paulo were trading down 1.8 percent.
NYBOT coffee futures trading volume reached an estimated 14,188 lots, above on Tuesday's official tally of 9,651 contracts. Meanwhile, Sara Lee Corp.
On Wednesday said it has agreed to sell its US retail coffee business to Italy's Segafredo Zane Group for $82.5 million in cash, as the company focuses on its meat, household products and baked goods operations.
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