US arabica coffee futures contracts settled a touch weaker on Tuesday, after gyrating on speculative and roaster buying, and origin selling in a rangebound market, traders said. "The last two days the market has topped at the nine-day moving average. We're waiting for something to happen. The market's asleep," one trader said.
NYBoT benchmark March contract settled 0.05 cent lower at $1.1655 per lb, trading in a band from $1.1580 to $1.1710, while May inched down the same at $1.1975, after trading in a tight band from $1.1910 to $1.2025. The rest fell 0.05 to 0.10 cent.
NYBoT estimated final coffee volume at 13,512 lots, compared with the 13,011 lots officially tallied on Monday when open interest climbed by 1,882 to 130,198 lots, a level traders called a record.
"That reflects the influence of the long-only index funds," a dealer said. Options calls were estimated at 3,379 on Tuesday, while puts were seen at 3,103. Robusta coffee futures settled mildly higher in London as small speculators dipped in and out of the market, traders said.
Liffe's benchmark March contract settled $5 higher at $1,585 per tonne, trading from $1,569 to $1,585. May gained $4 to $1,574, after trading in a range from $1,558 to $1,574. Two contracts aside, the rest closed $1 to $4 higher.
Coffee prices in top robusta grower Vietnam were steady in the past week, but traders expect prices to firm by mid-February as farmers hold back the supply of fresh beans from the new harvest to boost prices. A Kenyan coffee farmers' co-operative on Tuesday said it had invited international dealers to bid for its beans, thereby side-stepping a central auction.
Many farmers in the east African country have been saying they would move to the newly-introduced system of direct sales or the so-called "second window", in search of better prices.