Coffee has failed to sustain gains and dropped sharply again, with the Mar/23 position losing the important support of 160 cents on ICE US. The market is still affected by bearish variables, reflecting the favorable weather and the expectation of a full Brazil’s 2023 crop. Occasional upward corrections, expected after the significant and long sequence of lows, are inhibited by financial uncertainties. The volatility in the price of oil and the dollar, the fear of recession, and the slowdown in economic activity, all these doubts bring a very large macroeconomic weight to the coffee market, which hinders bullish moves in the NY exchange.
The coffee market needs a financial respite to be able to break, even if momentarily, this negative logic. A more consistent indication of flexibility in China’s zero-tolerance COVID-19 policy, for example, would indirectly support coffee, as it would support oil and other commodities. Some easing in the cycle of rising interest rates in the United States, indicating a future inversion in the curve, would bring comfort to economic projections and greater oxygen for investments and demand. The fact is that coffee proves to be quite vulnerable in the short term due to an erratic and uncertain financial context.
In the medium and long term, what prevails over the coffee curve in NY is the fundamental issue. In this sense, the focus is on the progress of Brazil’s 2023 crop and the estimated supply slack for the next business cycle. A change in the price trend is linked, in this sense, to a new frustration with Brazilian production. For now, the scenario remains positive.