After experiencing their largest gain in almost a decade, coffee prices, along with the related exchange traded note, is rallying even higher Wednesday as fears on Brazilian crop yields jolt traders.
The iPath Dow Jones-UBS Coffee Total Return Sub-Index ETN (NYSEArca: JO) rose 10% Wednesday after gaining 9.1% Tuesday. The ETN is up 12.3% over the past week and up 41% year-to-date. [Trying to Get Involved With the Coffee ETN]
Meanwhile, ICE Coffee futures increased 8.8% Wednesday. Contracts on arabica coffee beans marked for March delivery jumped 9.1% to a 13-month high Tuesday, the largest one-day percentage rise since November 2004, reports Alexandra Wexler for the Wall Street Journal.
Coffee prices have been soaring this year as traders pushed up prices, betting on significant crop damage in Brazil, the world’s largest producer of coffee beans, as dry weather stunts growth in a crucial stage in the beans’ development.
Commodities traders will get a better picture of the extent to Brazil’s crop damage at the end of the month when the coffee cherries are more developed – growers will see whether the cherries are smaller than normal or are falling off prematurely.
In Brazil, temperatures in the prime coffee regions are expected to remain above-normal with limited rainfall over the next five days, forecaster DTN said.