The latest Commitment of Traders report from the London robusta coffee market has seen the Speculative sector of this market increase their net short sold position within the market by 38.44% over the week of trade leading up to Tuesday 15th September; to register a net short sold position of 11,274 Lots on the day. This net long that is the equivalent of 1,879,000 bags has most likely been increased a little, over the period of mixed but generally softer trade that has since followed.

The arbitrage between the markets narrowed yesterday, to register this at 47.71 usc/Lb., while this equates to a 40.69% price discount for the London robusta coffee market. This arbitrage remaining relatively attractive to roasters in comparison to arabica coffee prices, but is perhaps due to widen further in time and when Vietnam stocks start to impact upon the fortunes of the London market.

The Certified washed Arabica coffee stocks held against the New York exchange were seen to increase by 839 bags yesterday; to register these stocks at 2,040,191 bags. There was a larger in volume 4,436 bags decrease to the number of bags pending grading for this exchange; to register these pending grading stocks at 38,783 bags.

It was a mixed day for the commodity markets on Friday, as the latest round of economic data post the lack of interest rate hike in U.S.A., contributed toward a relatively subdued day. It was a buoyant day for the Oil markets, although the increasing strength of the U.S. Dollar took some toll across the rest of the board, with Sugar, Cocoa, Coffee, Cotton, Orange Juice, Gold, Silver, Platinum and Palladium markets lower on day. There was some improvement noted in Corn, Wheat and Soybean. The Reuters Equal Weight Continuous Commodity Index that is made up from 17 markets is 0.55% higher to see this Index registered at 394.44. The day starts with the U.S. Dollar trading at 1.549 to Sterling and 1.116 to the Euro, the Brazil Real is trading at 3.982, while North Sea Oil is steady in early trade and is selling at 47.54 per barrel.

The London and New York markets started on a positive track in the morning, in light trade volume. Within the thinly traded market, sellers applied pressure to New York and the markets dipped to unchanged in London and below the opening mark in New York. There was a degree of buoyancy which returned to prop up the floor on the day, and another round of buyer participation outweighed the sellers in both markets and the markets regained lost ground regain and surpass the earlier morning highs achieved, where New York managed to maintain the new range set, although London looked less convincing and in choppy trade, the latter afternoon session saw both markets subjected to additional selling pressure with the advent of a stronger U.S. Dollar toward the latter half of the day and the Brazil Real posting fresh lows against the US Dollar, sliding 0.04 points over the course of the day. Both markets slipped back towards unchanged and with the buyers withdrawn, another push lower at the end of the day, to set the close after a mixed day of trade and in a moderate volume trading day, on a softer note in both New York and London, as follows:

LONDON ROBUSTA US$/MT NEW YORK ARABICA USc/Lb.

NOV 1533 – 23                           DEC   117.25 – 1.10
JAN 1547 – 22                            MAR  120.60 – 1.20
MAR 1564 – 21                          MAY  122.85 – 1.20
MAY 1686 – 19                          JUL    124.75 – 1.20
JUL 1606 – 20                             SEP    126.55 – 1.25
SEP 1626 – 22                            DEC    129.30 – 1.20
NOV 1646 – 22                          MAR   131.95 – 1.15
JAN 1666 – 22                           MAY   133.75 – 1.15
MAR 1686 – 24                         JUL      135.55 – 1.10