Arabica coffee trading on the ICE Futures US closed down a shade on Wednesday, with pressure coming from origin selling while the weak dollar helped to prevent deeper losses, traders said.
"It's holding mostly because of the dollar weakness and London's spreads. It (November robusta) is entering the notice period very strong and it's giving some help for New York not to trade lower but I think it's just a matter of time," one trader said.
The front month robusta's premium on the London market widened ahead of Thursday's first tender day. The ICE benchmark December arabica contract finished the open-outcry session down 0.55 cent at $1.2135 per lb.
On the screen, the December contract was down 0.65 cent at $1.2125 a lb. at 1:45 pm EDT (1745 GMT), moving widely from $1.2080 to $1.2305. In London, robusta futures closed firm with Life's key January contract settling up $33 at $1,903, moving from $1,856 to $1,919, a contract high.
Electronic deals in some agricultural commodities trading on ICE experienced some difficulties when technical problems temporarily halted trade in energy futures late. "Everyone was being disconnected. The orders were being pulled back and then we would have to replace the orders," one coffee trader said about the temporary problem.
In biggest coffee producer Brazil, DTN Meteorlogix said mostly dry conditions with the chance of some light showers will continue through on Thursday with scattered showers and thunderstorms forecast on Friday through on Sunday. Another widely read report said the Southeast region is experiencing showers with widespread rain expected on Friday.
The ICE December robusta coffee futures were down 1.30 cents at 84.50 cents per lb. with no trading range, at 1:43 pm. The rest were up from 0.45 to 1.00 cent. ICE Futures electronic trade ends at 3:15 pm. ICE estimated open-outcry volume around noon at 1,351 lots, with traders pegging electronic volume at more than 12,200 by 1:15 pm.
This compares to the heavy 12,633 lots that traded on the floor on Tuesday when 13,759 lots traded on the screen. Options, ICE Pentecost dropped by 943 lots to 168,366 as of October 30, exchange data showed.