US coffee futures prices on positive ground Wednesday, although light speculative buying failed to get prices out of a two-week trading range, market sources said.
The New York Board of Trade's active December arabica contract gained 1.0 cent to 93.70 cents a lb, after trading from 92.10 to 94.40 cents.
"Roasters were in the market but very minimal," said a trader. "We had this push to the upside but it was all locals," he said, referring to independent brokers. "There are a lot of stops up at 95.50," he said.
Among other arabicas, March advanced 1.05 cent to 96.95 cents a lb, and back-month arabicas rose 1.05 to 1.30 cent.
Futures trading volume was relatively thin - estimated at 7,458 contracts. That compared with the low 6,856 contracts officially tallied the previous session.
For instance, the International Coffee Organisation expects 2005/06 world coffee output to fall to 108 million bags from the 114.9 million bags in the 2004/05 crop year. It sees 2004 global consumption at about 115 million bags, and growing.