The latest Commitment of Traders report from the London Robusta coffee market has seen the Speculative Managed Money Sector of this market cut their net long position by 0.30% within the market over the week of trade leading up to Tuesday 15th. June: to register a new net long position of 33,358 Lots which is the equivalent of 5,559,667 bags. This net long position has most likely been little changed following the period of mixed but overall flat trade that has since followed.

Protest leaders in Colombia have announced a suspension of their anti-government demonstrations which have caused political and economic disruptions since the beginning of May. The flow of coffee from the interior, has been reported to have improved substantially when compared to the previous weeks, with Government reporting that the economic losses due to the protests could total more than three million US Dollars.

These protests have which took place across the country, affected export port areas, to include the key export port city of Buenaventura. The political strike action disruptions have led to a notable decline in exports from Colombia, to include coffee exports to the world over the time. These lower Colombian coffee exports are reflected in the National Coffee Growers Federation official export report for May, that has reported 52% decline for coffee exports for the month of May, when compared to the same month last year. There are reports that are coming to the fore, that the lower exports from this largest washed arabica producer to main consumer markets, has seen coffee roasters in the USA experiencing difficulty to secure Colombian coffee stocks at reasonable prices as disruptions to the supply chain have seen deliveries to the worlds’ largest coffee consumer stagnate. One might anticipate that as this is mostly as a result of the short-term bottleneck in the supply chain, with many roasters generally well covered and having altered their 'just in time’ policies in view of the prevailing and unpredictable pandemic environment, that with protests in Colombia now suspended, it is a matter of time for the normal flow of coffee exports to consumer markets to resume.

The September-to-September contract arbitrage between the London and New York markets narrowed on Friday; to register this at 78.65 usc/Lb. This equates to 51.76% price discount for the London Robusta coffee market. This wide arbitrage will likely be viewed by price sensitive roasters as an attractive alternative discount for robusta against the comparatively higher value arabica coffee.

The Certified washed Arabica coffee stocks held against the New York exchange were seen to increase by 7,978 bags on Friday, to register these stocks at 2,162,757 bags, with 93.52% of these certified stocks being held in Europe at a total of 2,022,622 bags and the remaining 6.48% being held in the USA at a total 140,135 bags. Of this, a total 1,151,076 bags, or 53.22% of the coffees registered and stored in consumer country certified warehouses of the exchange, Brazil washed arabica, and a further 38.83% of these certified coffees, originating from Honduras. There was meanwhile a smaller in number 4,888 bags decrease to the number of bags pending grading to the exchange; to register these pending grading stocks at 47,095 bags.

It was a softer day on the commodity markets on Friday, as the U.S Dollar gained ground against a basket of other currencies. The Coffee, Corn, Soybean and Wheat markets ended the day on a positive note, while the Sugar, Cocoa, Gold, Silver, Palladium and Platinum markets ended the day on a softer note. The day starts with the U.S. Dollar trading at 1.379 Sterling, at 1.186 the Euro and with the US Dollar buying 5.089 Brazil Real.

The New York and London markets started the day on Friday trading on a firmer note for the day, the markets continued to gain momentum throughout the morning session. As the afternoon progressed the markets would hit a ceiling limiting the gains for the early afternoon session to see both markets drop back and set on a softer path for the early afternoon session, the markets dropped back to hit a low point for the day. Both the New York and London markets would rebound from the lows of the day to rally late in the afternoon which saw the markets settle on a modest firmer note at the close.

The London market ended the day on a positive note and with 75% of the gains of the day intact, while the New York market ended the day on a likewise positive note and with 22.58% of the gains of the day intact. The modest firmer close might inspire some degree of follow through confidence, albeit that the markets dropped back from the earlier in the day highs, to possibly set the markets for a hesitant steady start to early trade today, against the prices set on Friday, as follows, as follows:

LONDON ROBUSTA US$/MT                             NEW YORK USC/LB.

SEP 1616 + 18                                                        SEP 151.95 + 0.35
NOV 1637 + 18                                                      DEC 154.95 + 0.35
JAN 1651 + 19                                                       MAR 157.60 + 0.30
MAR 1663 + 19                                                     MAY 159.00 + 0.30
MAY 1675 + 19                                                     JUL 160.10 + 0.25
JUL 1690 + 19                                                       SEP 161.00 + 0.20
SEP 1703 + 19                                                       DEC 162.20 + 0.20
NOV 1714 + 19                                                     MAR 163.35 + 0.20