Coffee Rises to 14-Year High on Rainfall in Colombia; Cocoa Prices Slide

Coffee climbed to the highest price in New York in almost 14 years as rains may hurt crops inColombia, the world’s second-largest producer of arabica beans. Sugar advanced.

Colombia’s Agriculture Ministry said a lack of sunshine will hurt the nation’s coffee crops over the next few months. Coffee plantations are being damaged by landslides and rains, Hamburg-based broker Eugen Atte GmbH said on April 28. “What is scarier is that, according to weather experts, the worse rains are yet to come,” the broker said in a report.

Strong demand, record-low inventories and production disruptions in several major producer nations are supporting the market, Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodity analyst at SEB AB,Sweden’s third-biggest bank by market value, wrote in a report today. “The situation originated with three consecutive disappointing Colombian crop years.”

Arabica coffee for July delivery rose 3.55 cents a pound, or 1.2 percent, to $3.0865 a pound by 8:31 a.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. Earlier the price touched $3.089, the highest since May 1997. Robusta coffee for July delivery rose $58, or 2.3 percent, to $2,613 a metric ton in London.

Roadways across Colombia have been damaged by rainfall, according to a statement from the Agriculture Ministry. Floods, landslides and damaged bridges have isolated entire towns, according to Atte. The extent of the coffee losses is still unknown, German researcher F.O. Licht said in a report.

Production in the Andean nation will be 9.2 million bags in the current crop, the International Coffee Organization said on April 6. The figure is still below the 2007-08 level of 12.5 million bags, ICO figures show.

Guatemala Exports

Coffee exports from Guatemala, the largest producer in Central America, rose 8.7 percent to 447,265 bags in April, according to the country’s National Coffee Association, known as Anacafe. Exports for the marketing season started Oct. 1 came to 1.881 million bags, down 0.7 percent from 1.895 million bags in the previous season, data from the association showed.

Raw sugar for July delivery rose 0.40 cent, or 1.8 percent, to 22.27 cents a pound on ICE. White, or refined, sugar for August delivery fell $7.30, or 1.2 percent, to $607.80 a ton on NYSE Liffe, after reaching $597.50, the lowest since Oct. 4.

Egypt’s state-run Sugar and Integrated Industries Co. is seeking to buy 50,000 tons of raw sugar at a tender yesterday for May and June arrival, Hussein Ahmed, purchasing manager at the company, said by phone in Cairo.

Cocoa for July delivery dropped $65, or 2 percent, to $3,226 a ton in New York. Cocoa for July delivery fell 13 pounds, or 0.7 percent, to 1,968 pounds ($3,243) a ton in London. www.bloomber.com