Coffee rises on Brazil, Vietnam stockpiles; sugar, cocoa gain

Coffee futures rose to the highest in more than three months in New York on signs of limited global supplies. Sugar and cocoa also climbed.

World coffee exports fell to 7.35 million bags in July from 8.2 million bags a year earlier, the International Coffee Organization said today. Vietnam, the world’s largest grower of the robusta variety, cut its 2011 export forecast to 1.17 million metric tons from 1.2 million tons, the agriculture ministry said in a monthly report on its website.

“Coffee continues to move higher on tight supplies,” Boyd Cruel, a senior analyst at Vision Financial Markets in Chicago, said in a telephone interview.

Arabica coffee for December delivery rose 1.55 cents, or 0.5 percent, to settle at $2.8825 a pound on ICE Futures U.S. in New York, after touching $2.885, the highest since May 10. Prices jumped 20 percent in August, the biggest monthly gain since June 2010.

The harvests under way in Brazil, the top arabica grower, and Vietnam will help rebuild stockpiles, easing pressure on prices, Cruel said.

Favorable weather in coffee-producing regions of Brazil will help completion of the harvest and drying of beans, forecaster Somar Meteorologia said yesterday. Buyers are demanding a discount for Vietnam’s coffee crop on speculation of record output, according to three people involved in the trade.

Arabica beans are grown mainly in Latin America and brewed by specialty companies including Starbucks Corp. Robusta, used in instant coffee, is harvested mostly in Asia and parts of Africa. A bag weighs 132 pounds or 60 kilograms.

Raw-sugar futures for October delivery advanced 0.06 cent, or 0.2 percent, to settle at 29.68 cents a pound in New York.

Cocoa for December delivery climbed $11, or 0.4 percent, to $3,113 a metric ton on ICE.

On NYSE Liffe in London, robusta coffee and refined sugar fell, while cocoa increased.

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