Arabica coffee futures ended on positive ground on Thursday, boosted mainly by industry buying and independent brokers covering their short positions before a three-day weekend, market sources said.
The New York Board of Trade's washed-arabica contract for May delivery rose 0.55 cent to settle at $1.0525 a lb, after hitting a three-week low of $1.0380 earlier in the session.
"There was some industry buying," said a coffee trader at a large commodities trade house. "The locals were caught too short and there was continued rolling," he said, referring to participants rolling out of the May contract before its April 20 first notice for delivery.
The July arabica gained 0.50 cent to end at $1.0815 per lb, and back months advanced 0.50 to 1.0 cent.
NYBOT markets are closed tomorrow for Good Friday and will reopen at normal hours on Monday. "The European market has been real quiet and that kind of hurt the price action there and in New York as well," said Jack Scoville, a vice president at the Price Group, a commodities brokerage. "The specs were on both sides of the market, and we saw a little bit of trade buying," he said.
Scoville said differentials, or price quotes for physical coffee, were "holding pretty steady."
In London, the Liffe's robusta May contract concluded down $3 at $1,145 a tonne, having dealt from $1,142 to $1,159 a tonne. Estimated coffee futures trading volume was 34,799 lots on the NYBOT, compared with 30,045 lots officially tallied the previous session.
Options on the May contract expired Thursday. Turnover in coffee call options reached 3,612 lots, while put options hit 2,883 contracts.