Coffee Rises as Indonesia's Crop Nears End, Limiting Supplies

By Claudia Carpenter

July 29 (Bloomberg) -- Robusta coffee rose the most in nine months in London as the harvest nears an end in Indonesia, limiting new supply. Cocoa also gained.

More beans from Vietnam and Indonesia contributed to a 9.1 percent drop in coffee prices through yesterday from a three- month high of $2,554 a metric ton on July 3. Supplies from Brazil, the world's largest grower, are also ``drying up a bit'' after wet weather delayed this year's harvest, said Stefan Uhlenbrock, an analyst at German research company F.O. Licht.

``Indonesia is concluding its harvest,'' Uhlenbrock said. ``July is usually a very intensive month for marketing the new Brazil crop and there's not so much coffee around this year.''

Robusta coffee for September delivery gained $69, or 3 percent, to $2,390 a metric ton as of 9:48 a.m. in London on the Liffe exchange after earlier gaining as much as 6.6 percent, the most since Oct. 17, 2007.

Cocoa for September delivery rose 13 pounds, or 0.9 percent, to 1,499 pounds ($2,989) a ton. White, or refined, sugar declined $3.10, or 0.9 percent, to $353.50 a ton.

To contact the reporter on this story: Claudia Carpenter in London at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net