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CSCE coffee closes easier on fund, local sales

NEW YORK: CSCE coffee futures finished weaker Monday because of speculative and local sales into stops, with a bearish CFTC commitments of traders report prompting some liquidation by weak longs in the market.

Arabica futures likewise suffered once London's January robusta contract expired, brokers said.

"Once London went off, March felt that pressure and it started to collapse," Mike McDougall, vice-president of the Brazil desk at FIMAT Futures in New York, said.

CFTC's commitments data, released after the market closed Friday, showed non-commercials holding a long position of 7,566 lots as of Jan 25 and in the upper range of trade expectations of the funds being long 6,000-8,000 lots.

March arabicas settled down 3.60 cents at 111.10 cents a lb after trading 114-110.50 cents. May lost 3.50 to end at 113.90 cents. The rest fell 3.30-3.15 cents.

Brokers said the market stumbled from the open on speculative and local selling into light stops, but modest local shortcovering pared losses.

"It was very slow and there was very little to get excited about," a broker said.

In industry news, a truckers' strike serving Colombia's main port on the Pacific coast entered its second day on Monday amid mixed reports about its impact.

A senior port authority official told Reuters from the port of Buenaventura that there had been a 30 percent drop in the number of trucks pulling into the facility with cargo, which normally handles 700 a day.

A union leader claimed the strike was 100 percent effective. Union leaders there routinely exaggerate the effectiveness of strikes in Colombia and government officials have a long tradition of minimising them.

Brazil's government has cancelled its monthly auction of official coffee stocks scheduled for this week and tentatively reset it for February 11.

Technicians said support for March arabicas is around 110-109 cents while resistance will likely be found at 118-120 cents.

Volume was an estimated 9,404 lots, against the previously estimated volume of 4,985 lots. Call volume reached an estimated 2,203 lots, whilst puts were seen at 1,254 lots.-Reuters