With the month of June complete, the usual round of export reports are coming to the fore, the Indonesian government trade data from Sumatra, the leading coffee producing island within Indonesia, has reported that the islands robusta coffee exports for the month of June were 143,100 bags or 56.50% lower than the same month last year, at a total of 110,147 bags. This contributes to the islands cumulative robusta coffee exports for the first nine months of the October 2020 to September 2021 coffee year to be 706,908 bags or 30.09% lower than the same period in the previous year, at a total of 1,642,082 bags. The prevalence of logistical and shipping corridor challenges across the globe, continue to disrupt movement of goods and exports, with Asian and Far East routes to the West, particularly problematic.

The National Coffee Institute of Costa Rica (ICAFE) have reported that the country’s coffee exports for the month of June were 13.90% higher than the same month last year, at a total of 164,426 bags. This they say has contributed to the cumulative coffee exports for the first nine months of the October 2020 to September 2021 coffee year to be 2.40% higher than the same period in the previous coffee year, at a total of 862,068 bags.

The September-to-September contract arbitrage between the London and New York markets narrowed yesterday; to register this at 79.24 usc/Lb. This equates to 50.66% 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 decrease by 17,839 bags yesterday, to register these stocks at 2,171,324 bags, with 93.59% of these certified stocks being held in Europe at a total of 2,032,164 bags and the remaining 6.41% being held in the USA at a total 139,160 bags. Of this, a total 1,151,066 bags, or 53.01% of the coffees registered and stored in consumer country certified warehouses of the exchange, Brazil washed arabica, and a further 39.89% of these certified coffees, originating from Honduras. There was meanwhile a smaller in number 17,506 bags increase to the number of bags pending grading to the exchange; to register these pending grading stocks at 35,449 bags.

It was a mixed day on the commodity markets yesterday, the US Dollar lost ground against a basket of other currencies. The Sugar, Corn, Gold and Platinum markets ended the day on a positive note, while the Coffee, Cocoa, Soybean, Wheat Silver and Palladium markets ended the day on a softer note. The day starts with the U.S. Dollar trading at 1.377 Sterling, at 1.184 the Euro and with the US Dollar buying 5.084 Brazil Real.

The New York and London markets started the day yesterday trading on a modest close to par positive note, both markets started to attract selling pressure early in the day. The weather news to come from Brazil and reports of sporadic frost in isolated areas, contributing to the rallies in the past few days, lost momentum during the session, with weather reported to be conducive in the primary coffee growing regions through the coming weekend. As the afternoon progressed the New York market fell deeper into negative territory, accentuated by speculative and fund sell stops triggered along the way. The London market followed suit albeit in a more sedate manner. Both the New York and the London markets rallied late in the day to see the markets bounce off the lows of the afternoon session and settle away from the earlier lows of the day.

The London market ended the day on a negative note and with 23.53% of the losses of the day intact, while the New York market ended the day on a likewise negative note and with 59.29% of the losses of the day intact. This softer close does little to indicate direction, albeit that both markets recovered from the earlier in the day losses, one might think that the markets are due for a hesitant start to early trade today, against the prices set yesterday as follows:

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

SEP 1701 – 4                                                          SEP 156.40 – 3.35
NOV 1705 – 7                                                         DEC 159.30 – 3.35
JAN 1709 – 7                                                          MAR 161.95 – 3.35
MAR 1711 – 8                                                         MAY 163.15 – 3.40
MAY 1716 – 9                                                        JUL 164.15 – 3.35
JUL 1727 – 9                                                          SEP 164.90 – 3.35
SEP 1740 – 9                                                          DEC 165.90 – 3.30
NOV 1751 – 9                                                         MAR 166.85 – 3.35