London robusta coffee futures ended mixed on Thursday with nearby positions weak and business dominated by spread trading, dealers said. The November contract finished down $6 at $1,515 per tonne while January ended $1 lower at $1,524. Total volume was 15,258 lots.
"January-March has weakened to about $14. That has been the most significant feature," one dealer said, noting the premium had been around $33 to $34 earlier this week. Dealers noted November-January has also slipped to a discount recently from a premium of about $40 a month ago amid sentiment that there is no-one is looking to take deliver of a significant volume of coffee against either November or January.
"Unless someone is prepared to take delivery that premium (January-March) could disappear," one dealer said, adding supplies should arrive from top robusta producer Vietnam in time to deliver against the January contract.
Dealers said coffee had edged up during morning trading aided by speculative buying while light producer selling interest emerged during the afternoon. British charity Oxfam has accused Starbucks of stopping Ethiopia trademarking two of its coffee bean types, denying farmers potential income of nearly 50 million pounds.
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