Japan November coffee stocks fall to five-month low

Japanese warehouse coffee stocks fell 5.4 percent to a five-month low of 118,797 tonnes at the end of November from a month, data compiled by the Agriculture Ministry showed on Thursday. November stocks were down 8.8 percent from 130,253 tonnes a year. The inventory level was the lowest since June, when it was at 116,100 tonnes.
Industry officials said inventories tend to fall in Japan, the world's third-largest coffee importer, as demand picks up during the winter. Yet, overall Japanese coffee imports have been falling due to high global prices, they said. Cumulative Japanese green coffee imports between January and November totalled 363,854 tonnes, down 7.5 percent from 393,406 tonnes during the same period a year, the Finance Ministry's import data showed on Thursday.