World Market: March 15-30, 2012

摘要

Global coffee prices showed considerable volatility in the period under review as the general downtrend persisted. The front-month May ara-bica contract slipped 2.85 cents to 182.45 cents/lb between March 15 and March 30. The spot contract shed 19.6%during the first quarter of 2012, making it the second-weakest performer on the Thomson Reuters-Jefferies CRB index next to natural gas. May hit a 17-month low of 174.45 cents/lb on March 22. London robusta futures remained underpinned by slow sales fromVietnam, although prices declined somewhat in the last couple of sessions in March. The benchmark May contract gained $7 in the period under review to $2,041 per tonne, with July settling $36 higher at $2,040 a tonne. The differential between arabicas and robustas fell about 10% to the lowest in 20 months to reach 83.87 cents/lb on March 29.