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CSCE coffee falls slightly in slow trading

NEW YORK: CSCE coffee futures ended marginally lower Thursday in another local-dominated, lackluster session, traders and brokers said.

"It was very uneventful. No major players, it's very quiet, just a tidying up of positions that's all," one floor dealer said.

Near months fell 0.40 cent, with key March arabicas settling at 118.55 cents a lb after trading 120-117.50 cents. May closed at 121.30 cents.

Futures opened firmer but came under pressure from light origin and local selling, brokers said.

"It was quiet. It's just local selling that took us to 117.50. It's an inside trading day," one Miami-based broker said.

"Without speculative buying in the market, pressure from price-fixing will knock it down," a New York-based trader said.

Trading on the arabicas market has been very quiet since Tuesday, moving in a tight range, after a sharp, but brief rise on Monday after the release of a key forecast for Brazil's 2000/01 crop.

With very little fundamental news circulating, traders said participants are waiting to see Friday's release of the Commitments of Traders report and next week's US warehouse stocks for December.

The Green Coffee Association (GCA) will release data on Tuesday after Monday's market holiday in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday.

Brokers and traders contacted by Reuters on Thursday predicted an increase of between 100,000-206,000 (60-kg) bags for the December stocks.

Traders and buyers said the market would now begin to focus its attention on US stocks and the physical market, whilst others are eyeing a possible bumper 1999/2000 crop in Mexico.

The Mexican Coffee Council predicted in August that production in 1999/00 crop year could reach some six million 60-kg bags, compared to 4.5 million in the previous harvest.

But the Mexican Coffee Producers Federation, a growers group, has forecast a harvest of some 4.8 million bags, due to damage from heavy rains earlier this year.

Technicians put resistance in March at 120 then 126 cents, with Support at 114-113.50 then 109-110 cents.

Volume was an estimated 5,631 lots against the 5,975 lots previously. Call volume was an estimated 4,304 lots, while puts were seen at 1,980 lots.

The CSCE is a subsidiary of the New York Board of Trade. -Reuters