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Arabica

Have you had your coffee yet?We already know that coffee beans have always been one of the most traded commodities in the world, specifically second, so why the sudden interest again? Figure 1: Summary of World Coffee In recent years, global consumption has increased at a higher rate than production due to pent-up demand. This rather large deficit in balance in the past two years puts the coffee market in an interesting spotlight. Nonetheless, arabica beans continue to be the more favored selection, with South America as the central production region, driven mainly by Brazil. Gaining Access to This Market Amongst various coffee derivatives, a coffee futures contract is the most common way to trade coffee. The 4/5 Arabica Coffee Futures (ICF) listed by Brasil, Bolsa, Balcão (B3) Exchange is an example of such contracts. For those unfamiliar with futures contracts, it is a legal agreement to buy or sell a specified asset at a predetermined price for delivery at a specified time in the future. For the ICF contract, the asset is 100 bags of 60 kilograms filled with grade 4-25 or better Arabica coffee bean produced in Brazil that is meant to be delivered in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, or a B3 accredited warehouse. The ICO’s Grading and Classification of Green Coffee states that “coffees of the highest altitudes are denser and larger in size than those produced at lower altitudes.” Loosely speaking, larger beans with higher density are better. The grade indicators refer to the number of defects found in a 300g sample. To achieve a 4-25 grade, the coffee must be classified by B3 in accordance with its rules and regulations. This grading system is more specific to Brazil-produced beans. Other coffee-producing countries have other specifications and classifications. The Trampoline Effect Figure 2: Supply & Demand Factors Historically, the ICF future prices resemble that of a trampoline, with major support lines at the 124.55 and 103.60 levels. Let us explore some of the factors that caused these jumps previously; bear in mind that consumption of Arabica beans has been steadily increasing since the 1990s. S1: Poor weather conditions in South America in 2010 Brazil suffered from poor weather conditions and faced significant problems in meeting the expected crop yield. Large producers were also considering hoarding their stocks. The problem was further exacerbated by the backdrop of record low arabica stock levels since the 1960s. S2: Drought in Brazil in 2014 Similarly, poor weather conditions caused uncertainty in crop production for the harvest year and pushed prices up. S3: Drought and frost in Brazil 2021 The effects of drought followed by a severe wave of frost in Brazil wiped out its coffee production. This was accompanied by increased freight costs and shipment issues caused by Covid-19. S4: Harvest Conditions Evidently, weather conditions pose significant downside risks to the coffee supply. Moreover, occasional coffee leaf rust coupled with increasing demand has caused spikes in coffee prices. USD and Coffee Figure 3: ICF and DXY (Inverted) As with many commodities, coffee tends to move inversely with USD. This is especially so since most coffee contracts, like the ICF, are priced in USD. When the dollar rises, coffee becomes more expensive in non-USD terms and can cause international demand to fall, and vice versa. Figure 4: ICF and BRLUSD This relationship becomes more apparent when compared to BRLUSD. Our thought process: Local Brazilian producers and manufacturers traded these ICF contracts as a hedging tool. During the physical delivery of the beans, these market participants would then have to do a currency exchange. Consequently, the impact of BRLUSD rates would have a larger impact on them. Similar Coffee Futures Contract Figure 5: ICF and KC The two contacts’ underlying assets - arabica beans - have similar grading standards. Consequently, macroeconomic factors are likely to have similar impacts on the two contract prices. The prices between the two contracts exhibit a very strong positive correlation. We can then create a spread with ICF – Coffee C (KC) Futures Contract. Figure 6: ICF - KC ICF is quoted USD per bag for a contract size of 100 60kg bags, while KC is quoted USD cents per pound for a contract size of 37,500 lbs. We can then create a spread with ICF1!/60-KC1!/0.4536/100, by converting both contracts to the same base units. The spread setup indicates that KC generally trades at a premium compared to ICF. This could be attributed to several factors, a notable one being the higher liquidity preference investors tend to have for the KC contract, which might reflect a broader international preference. It is also worth noting that ICF requires Brazil-produced arabica beans, while KC comprises beans from other countries. This could explain the uncanny coincidence between the upside bias in spread movements (Figure 6) occurring in periods identified in Figure 2 – supply-side factors driven mainly from the Brazil side. Putting into Practice Enough has been said about coffee; you must be wondering how we then use this information to set up trades. Here are some ways for consideration. Case Study 1: Directional Driven By considering current macroeconomic factors on coffee, to express a “quieter” outlook on coffee, an investor could sell the ICF future contract (ICFH4). At the present level of 206.00, with a stop-loss above 219.00 – a conservative resistant line – it brings us a hypothetical maximum loss of 219.00-206.00 = 13.00 points. As shown in Figure 2, if ICF1! Reverts to major support line 124.55, a hypothetical gain of 206.00-124.55=81.45 points. Each ICF futures contract represents 100 bags; the value of each point move is USD100. However, as we approach the main harvest period for Brazil, May to Sep, it is of paramount importance for the investor to keep a watch for any potential hiccups that could negatively affect the harvest yield. Furthermore, this is likely to be a medium-term macro-driven strategy. Case Study 2: Spread Driven Regarding the ICF-KC spread currently trading at the upper bound, an investor with a bearish short-term view that the spread will trend downwards could sell ICF futures contract (ICFH4) and buy KC futures contracts (KCH4). At the present level of 206.00 and 169.95 for ICFH4 and KCH4, respectively. Following the formula above, the spread will be at –0.31336 points. Setting the resistance at the Fibonacci 50% ratio, we have a stop loss at -0.25, which brings us a hypothetical maximum loss of -0.25-(-0.31336) = 0.06336 points. Setting the support at the Fibonacci 38.2% ratio, we set our take profit at -0.40, which brings us a hypothetical gain of -0.31336-(-0.40) = 0.08664 points. The value of each point move in ICFH4 is USD100, while KCH4 is USD375. Conclusion There are various methods to create opportunities for investors, depending on how the investor would like to view the market or what other financial assets to pair up with coffee futures contracts. What we have covered in this article merely scrapes the tip of the iceberg, and we hope investors keep a creative mindset and explore other potential options. Disclaimer: The contents of this article are intended for information purposes only and do not constitute investment recommendations or advice. Nor are they used to promote any specific products or services. They serve as an integral part of a case study to demonstrate fundamental concepts in risk management under given market scenarios. A full version of the disclaimer is available in our profile description.
Editors' picks
BMFBOVESPA:ICF1!Short
by inspirante
10
Coffee Short - Seasonal weakness starting For my coffee drinkers - Both Arabica and Robusta had a strong start to the year. However, seasonally a bearish phase starts from 22 Feb to 31 Mar. The technical price target was also reached yesterday. In the last 17 years we can observe a negative trend between 22 Feb to 1 Mar. Only in 5 out of 17 years did the coffee price rise during this period. On average, coffee loses around -3.75% in this period with a standard deviation of 6.92%.
PEPPERSTONE:COFFEEShort
by SalahBouhmidi
1
Correction or sideways?Market taking a breather after the recent rally. I would think that the market is taking a break from the rally for now. Corrective levels below are the 7 day MA at 164ish, 20 day MA at 158 and 100 day MA along with the lower line of the upsloping trend channel. Option vol went out on the move, but commercials seems to be selling as physical prices in Brazil are as high as ever and provide good selling opportunities for commercials. IMHO, downside 1x2 calendar spreads or short call spreads are options.
K
by mjhillpp
Things point to 140 for now (2nd month continuation)Looks down to the 140 area for a test. However as long as the orange or blue trends hold, the upwards trend is still intact IMHO. short call spreads above 165 in Dec or January might be a good idea. I would buy any puts as downside seems limited for the moment and option volatility might decline during a sell off diminishing returns on long option strategies. 1x2 put spreads 10 to 15 cents wide for flat selling the 2 buying one over two month could be good IMHO
KShort
by mjhillpp
2
Note quite yet, KC longCoffee nearing the orange support line around 122 (2nd month continuation, about 119-120 front month ). Interesting fact about this correction lower from 134 to 122 is that this is the first time in a couple years that we actually have an up-sloping support line (orange line). If the orange support holds this could mark a longer term trend reversal. On the downside further targets remain the lower Bbands as well as the previous lows around 113. IMHO selling put spreads out in Sep16 might be a good risk reward once we reach the orange line (U16 110/100 p spread). The U provides some decent premium over the other contracts as this is the frost scare month.
K
by mjhillpp
Arabica Coffee (KC) Breaks Downtrend Since Mid OctoberKC put in its strongest weekly performance in about a month, reinforcing the line in the sand at the 180 horizontal support zone as seen in the attached chart. The 180 level also coincides with the uptrend support line connecting the low earlier in the week with the January 2014 low. Based on the renewed upward momentum these last few days, and the apparent break of the downtrend from mid October, it would appear that the uptrend line break (which appeared last week if you imagine an uptrend support line connecting the same January 2014 low with the July and September 2014 lows) gave a false sell signal alert. The daily Stochastics and RSI are now trending up strongly from oversold levels, while the daily MACD is beginning to positively crossover. Some profittaking can be expected early next week, but the general trend in the next few weeks should be up, with a target next week around 205-206, followed by the next target at the October high. Feel free to visit stks.co for yesterday's technical analysis on $KC_F, $VIX, $ES_F, $NQ_F, $EURUSD, $DX_F, $SB_F, $AUDUSD, $CT_F, $EURCHF, $GBPUSD, $SI_F Website: tradablepatterns.com FB: facebook.com Stocktwits: stocktwits.com Twitter: twitter.com Linkedin: www.linkedin.com YouTube: www.youtube.com Google+: google.com Email: info@tradablepatterns.com
KLong
by TradablePatterns