Coffee Rebounds in N.Y. as Investors, Roasters Buy After Slump

By Yi Tian

Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Coffee rebounded on demand by investors and roasters after the price traded close to the lowest in almost 15 months.

That marked the only gain among 19 raw materials in the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index. The gauge tumbled by a record 6.6 percent on concern that the widening financial crisis will push the global economy into a recession. On Oct. 8, coffee touched $1.0935 a pound, the lowest since July 16, 2007. The price fell as much as 3.8 percent to $1.103 today.

``Roasters became interested at this price level, and there was also some short-covering,'' said Hernando de la Roche, a director at Hencorp Futures in Miami.



Arabica coffee futures for December delivery rose 0.7 cent, or 0.6 percent, to $1.1535 a pound on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. The most-active contract still dropped 5.5 percent this week after tumbling 9 percent last week.

Coffee has slumped this month partly because exports from Brazil, the world's largest producer, are increasing. The price is down 15 percent this year.

In London, robusta-coffee futures for January delivery declined $35, or 2 percent, to $1,751 a metric ton.

From Oct. 27 to Oct. 31, coffee trading will begin at 3:30 a.m. New York time, an hour later than normal, ICE said in a statement on its Web site.

To contact the reporter on this story: Yi Tian in New York at ytian8@bloomberg.net.