Arabica coffee prices post biggest gain since 2004

Arabica coffee extended its bull-market advance, posting the biggest gain in nine years, as drought drains dams to a record low in Brazil, the world's biggest grower and exporter.

Dry weather will persist through February 20 in the country's southeast, the main growing region, according to Celso Oliveira, a meteorologist at weather forecaster Somar Meteorologia. Rains expected late this month and in March won't be enough to fill reservoirs before the dry season starts in April, he said. Prices jumped 19 per cent in five sessions, the biggest such advance since June 2010.

Coffee has surged 23 per cent in 2014, heading for the best start to a year since 1997. Brazil had the hottest January ever and the least rain for the period in 20 years, according to Marco Antonio dos Santos, an agronomist at Somar. The drought is also driving prices higher for sugar and orange juice.

"Dryness in Brazil's coffee-growing area is something that will propel the market higher," Sterling Smith, a futures specialist at Citigroup Inc in Chicago, said in a telephone interview. "Not enough rain is stressing the trees."

Arabica coffee for March delivery jumped 8.6 per cent to settle at $1.3595 a pound on Tuesday on ICE Futures US in New York, the biggest increase since November 2004. On January. 31, the commodity settled at $1.252, up 23 per cent from a closing low in November and entering a bull market. Prices reached $1.364, the highest since May 20.