Brazilian Coffee Growers Delay Sales on Price Drop, Cepea Says

Coffee growers in Brazil, the world’s largest producer, are delaying sales of this year’s crop as bean prices fall in New York trading, according to Cepea, a University of Sao Paulo research group.

Growers in Espirito Santo, Brazil’s largest robusta- producing state, have picked 90 percent of the crop and sold about 30 percent, Cepea said in a report dated yesterday, citing local agents. In southern Minas Gerais, the main arabica- producing state, 75 percent of the crop has been harvested, while sales remain between 25 and 30 percent, it said.

“In the main coffee-producing regions in Brazil, the harvesting of robusta and arabica varieties remains at a good pace, favored by good weather conditions,” Cepea analyst Margarete Boteon said in the report. “In spite of that, trades in the Brazilian market are sluggish” as sellers hold back beans, expecting a new advance in prices, she said.

Arabica dropped 7.3 percent over the past month on ICE Futures U.S. in New York on reduced concerns a frost might hurt crops in Brazil. Robusta slid 14 percent in London in the same span as stockpiles at European warehouses monitored by the NYSE Liffe exchange almost doubled this year.

“Due to decreases in the international market, which pressed down quotes in Brazil, most sellers refrained from trading,” Boteon said in the report.

Robusta for September delivery rose $15, or 0.7 percent, to $2,135 a ton by 9:32 a.m. London time. Arabica for delivery in the same month climbed 1.3 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $2.445 a pound.