Coffee prices explode

The coffee burns. Around 1000 GMT (1200 Paris), Arabica for September delivery traded on the NYBOT-ICE touched 162.95 U.S. cents per pound, its highest level since early March 2008, garnering over 12% compared to Friday last. Robusta (September) traded on Liffe in London soared to 1,595 dollars per tonne, its highest since early March 2009.

"The explosion in prices is explained by fears of supply failing to keep up with demand," commented analyst at Commerzbank.

Indeed, the tight supply from Vietnam and Central America support prices, as fears about the effect expected from the ongoing harvest in Brazil, the largest producer of coffee, according to Michael Hewson, an analyst at CMC Markets.Furthermore, demand continues to strengthen in key import markets such as Europe, Japan and the United States.

"The markets are catching up after a while to take into account" the tension on the fundamentals of supply and demand, noted Kona Haque, analyst at Macquarie, to the extent that the rebound is reinforced by a renewed interest to speculative investors taking advantage of a slight weakening of the dollar.

"The supply-demand balance of the arabica market suggests another deficit in 2009/2010 season, also highlights the analyst, noting also that the European stocks of coffee have shown a decrease in April .

The greenback fell Wednesday to 1.2353 dollars per euro, its lowest level in two weeks, making them more attractive purchases of raw materials denominated in dollars for investors provided with other currencies.

• For the IEA, "it is urgent to increase the supply of oil"
• The UN wants to burst the commodities bubble
• The crude ended down almost 2 dollars in New York
• Death of Bin Laden: the oil price makes the yo-yo
• The wait for OPEC could raise $ 100 a barrel