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The January contract of frozen concentrated orange juice (FCOJ) on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) hit an all-time high of $4.17 per pound during the session, before falling back to $3.83 per pound. Did anyone predict $4.00 orange juice? As a comparison, the most traded contract among the soft commodities, ICE's raw sugar, had over 435,000 lots in open interest. Ibiapaba Netto, executive director at CitrusBR, the association representing Brazilian juice producers, said that a reversal of the current tight supply situation would take time, and is not certain to happen. Brazil has a 75% share of the global orange juice trade.

Persons: Mohamed Abd El Ghany, Dave Reiter, OJ, Darin Fessler, Ibiapaba Netto, Netto, greening, Marcelo Teixeira, Nick Zieminski Organizations: REUTERS, Intercontinental Exchange, Reiter Capital Investments, CitrusBR, Thomson Locations: El Nobaria, Cairo, Egypt, New York, United States, Brazil, Mexico, U.S

☆ Crunch time for Brazil ports as coffee flow hit, sugar vessels delayed
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( Marcelo Teixeira | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

FILE PHOTO: Ships and warehouses containing grains and sugar are seen at TIPLAM (Integrator Port Terminal Luiz Antonio Mesquita) from VLI Multimodal S.A. at Santos port, in Santos, Brazil May 25, 2023. “We hear some vessels are delayed even 25-27 days,” said sugar industry consultants CovrigAnalytics in a note on Thursday. The line-up of vessels to load sugar in Brazil rose nearly 40% in the last week to around 4.2 million metric tons, 25% more than at the same time last year. About 90 vessels are available at the ports to load sugar. Buyers are already expecting delays, said a director at one of the largest sugar exporters in Brazil.

Persons: Antonio Mesquita, Amanda Perobelli, Williams, “, ”, CovrigAnalytics Organizations: Reuters, REUTERS, Shipping, ING, Santos Locations: Santos, Brazil, New York

Ships and warehouses containing grains and sugar are seen at TIPLAM (Integrator Port Terminal Luiz Antonio Mesquita) from VLI Multimodal S.A. at Santos port, in Santos, Brazil May 25, 2023. Raw sugar is usually shipped in bulk, while refined sugar uses containers. ING analysts said some sugar shipments scheduled to depart Brazil in October will likely be pushed to November. A director at one of the largest sugar exporters in Brazil said, however, that buyers were already expecting the delays. The forecast is for only light rains in the coming days at Santos, with heavier downpours expected from Oct. 28.

Persons: Antonio Mesquita, Amanda Perobelli, Williams, Marcelo Teixeira, Jamie Freed Organizations: REUTERS, Shipping, ING, Santos, Thomson Locations: Santos, Brazil, New York

Production of the chocolate-making ingredient is expanding outside of the main growing area in West Africa as farmers in places such Brazil, Ecuador and Colombia see potential profit in the crop. The rally in prices to the highest level in nearly 50 years is boosting that trend, which could alleviate the current supply tightness in the global cocoa market. The country was once the second only to Ivory Coast in cocoa production, but a devastating fungus in the 1980's known as Witches' Broom sharply reduced production. "I believe that the new profile of cocoa production will be large-scale," said Moises Schmidt, one of the owners. "If you plant cocoa trees there (Amazon region), it is considered reforestation," said Douglas.

Persons: Schmidt Agricola, Moises Almeida Schmidt, Handout, Moises Schmidt, Jeroen Douglas, Douglas, Jose Garcia, IFAD's, Alvaro Lario, Marcelo Teixeira, Maytaal Angel, Simon Webb, Anna Driver Organizations: REUTERS, International Cocoa Organization, Reuters Graphics, Ivory, UN's, Fund for Agricultural Development, Thomson Locations: Bahia, Brazil, West Africa, Ecuador, Colombia, Africa, South America, Ivory, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Asia, United States, Europe, Guayaquil, Para, Netherlands, Medicilandia, New York, London

But some of its beans, known as unwashed or 'natural' arabicas, have not previously been used for high-end benchmark coffee contracts around the world. Unwashed coffee is so-called because its fruit is left to dry whole before the bean is extracted. He added that relatively little Brazilian coffee ends up in ICE warehouses because it usually fetches higher prices in the physical markets. The two companies declined to comment on whether they had got a mix of semi-washed and unwashed beans certified by ICE. Zooming out to inflation adjusted terms however, coffee prices in 1980 were equivalent to about $8 per lb - a whopping 500% higher than they are today, according to Reuters calculations.

Persons: Juan Carlos Ulate, Dagoberto Suazo, unwashed, Marcio Ferreira, Cecafe, Ferreira, Louis Dreyfus, Pedro Mendoza, Maytaal Angel, Gustavo Palencia, Marcelo Teixeira, Frank Jack Daniel Our Organizations: Workers, REUTERS, LONDON, Agricultural, Intercontinental Exchange, Reuters, Producers, IF IT, ICE, Central, Thomson Locations: Grecia, Costa Rica, TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, Brazil, America, Africa, Cafetaleras, Colombia, Central America, Peru, Europe, Swiss, Sucafina, U.S, London, Tegucigalpa, New York

The benchmark September contract for cocoa in London gained more than 2% on Wednesday to 2,590 pounds per metric ton. Prices are rising in reaction to a tight market for cocoa beans, which are mainly produced in Ivory Coast and Ghana. Arrivals of cocoa at Ivory Coast ports for export are down nearly 5% this season. The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) widened this month its forecast for a global deficit on cocoa supply from 60,000 metric tons previously to 142,000 metric tons. Arabica coffee settled down 5 cents, or 3%, at $1.6195 per lb, while robusta coffee fell $99, or 3.6%, at $2,616 a metric ton.

Persons: Leonardo Rosseti, Rosseti, Maytaal, Mark Potter, David Gregorio Our Organizations: YORK, Intercontinental Exchange, International Cocoa Organization, StoneX, Refinitiv Commodities Research, Thomson Locations: London, West Africa, Ivory Coast, Ghana, West, New York

☆ Coffee research group progresses on naturally decaffeinated varieties
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Roberto Samora | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SAO PAULO, June 16 (Reuters) - A Brazilian coffee research institute has started a decisive stage in a two-decade project to develop arabica coffee varieties that are naturally decaffeinated, a development the researchers think could have significant commercial potential. The program is being developed at the Instituto Agronomico de Campinas (IAC), a leading coffee research center that has provided many of the high-yield coffee plants that have helped Brazil become a powerhouse in the global coffee market, supplying more than a third of the trade. Companies selling decaffeinated coffee as well could benefit with reduced costs, since they could skip the industrial processes to remove caffeine from regular coffee varieties. Coffee trees usually take two to three years to produce the first fruits, so there are still some years ahead until the researchers can harvest that coffee and test it. Consumption of decaffeinated coffee accounts for around 10% of the market in the United States, according to data from the National Coffee Association (NCA).

Persons: Julio Cesar Mistro, Roberto Samora, Marcelo Teixeira, Sandra Maler Organizations: SAO PAULO, Instituto Agronomico, IAC, National Coffee Association, Thomson Locations: Campinas, Brazil, Europe, United States, New York

The last time an El Nino was in place, in 2016, the world saw its hottest year on record. DECLARING EL NINOMost experts look to two agencies for confirmation that El Nino has kicked off — NOAA and Australia's Bureau of Meteorology (BOM). The two agencies use different metrics for declaring El Nino, with the Australian definition slightly stricter. On Tuesday, Australia issued their own bulletin, noting a 70% chance of El Nino developing this year. Experts say that a strong El Nino could hit sugar production in India and Thailand, and possibly disrupt the sugarcane harvest in Brazil.

Persons: El Nino, El, John Vizcaino, Arcodia, Gloria Dickie, Seher Dareen, Marcelo Teixeira, Angus MacSwan Organizations: U.S . National Oceanic, El, El Nino, NINO, NOAA, Australia's, Meteorology, REUTERS, El Ninos, Colorado State University, Central Pacific, Central Pacific El Nino, Nino, Thomson Locations: South America, Australia, Asia, Nino, El Nino, Pacific, Magdalena, Colombia, Honda, Central, Hawaii, Central Pacific, El, India, Thailand, Brazil, Vietnam, New York, U.S, Indonesia, Malaysia, London

RenovaBio is a carbon market that gives Brazilian biofuel producers an additional revenue source. Those carbon credits are sold to fuel distributors in Brazil who have targets to cut emissions, or in a secondary market at Brazil's B3 exchange. The lawmakers in a letter to the USTR complained about the implementation in Brazil in February of an import tariff of 16% on U.S. ethanol. "Brazilian ethanol producers have access to our Renewable Fuel Standard and California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard program, which recognize the inherent value of low-carbon biofuels," the letter said. "This treatment is not reciprocated by Brazil, where U.S. ethanol producers, after two years, have yet to be approved for Brazil's biofuel program."

Persons: Katherine Tai, Marcelo Teixeira, Mark Porter Organizations: YORK, U.S ., Trade, Thomson Locations: Brazil, U.S, RenovaBio

The sugar and ethanol (S&E) industry, as well as international sugar traders, were widely expecting the resumption of federal taxes on gasoline and ethanol, as indicated by Finance Minister Fernando Haddad last week. "In our perspective, this measure might have negative effects on the S&E sector, as it maintains the ethanol prices below the market's forecast, while the expectation was for an increase in ethanol prices in the beginning of 2023," said Citi Research. Sugar and ethanol industry group Unica said the new administration had become "an accomplice" to the attack on the environment begun under the former administration, adding that the measure contradicts Lula's speech at the COP 27 U.N. climate meeting in November. The group said that the tax exemption was unconstitutional, since the law requires the federal government to give a tax incentive to biofuels. Mauricio Muruci, an analyst with Safras & Mercado, said fuel distributors were actively buying ethanol late last year before the expected tax return.

☆ Miner Vale looks to close deal with partner for base metals in H1
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Marcelo Teixeira | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

FILE PHOTO: Brazilian mining company Vale SA logo and trading symbol are displayed on a screen at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., December 6, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid//File PhotoNEW YORK (Reuters) - Brazilian mining company Vale is in advanced talks with possible partners for its new base metals investment vehicle and looks to have a deal concluded during the first half of 2023, Chief Executive Gustavo Pimenta said on Wednesday. Pimenta said the key quality Vale is looking when deciding for the partner is expertise. “We will change the way we manage base metals. Demand for metals like nickel and lithium is seen growing sharply in coming years due to expected production growth of electric vehicles (EV).

The defaults, though less widespread than last year, have scrambled the coffee market, leaving traders reluctant to agree to forward sales for next year's crop or the one after. "We've been told to have less exposure with (Brazilian farmers). However, when farmers default, traders do not have the physical coffee to sell to offset the futures market. That's what happened in September, when Arabica coffee futures rose from around 2.16 cents per pound to 2.32 cents late in the month, a 7% increase. A lawyer working for one of the five largest coffee exporters in Brazil said the defaults concerned less than 10% of Brazil's total forward contracts.

A farmer spreads nitrogen fertilizer in his wheat field in Blecourt, France, May 27, 2021. Russia, under financial sanctions, is a major producer of fertilizer and natural gas, key in making nitrogen products to boost yields of corn and other crops. Since Russia's February invasion of Ukraine, Europe started weaning itself off Russian natural gas and a pipeline transporting ammonia from Russia to a Ukraine port shut down. European countries typically buy most of their imported urea, a form of nitrogen fertilizer, from North Africa, but are now purchasing it further afield, Wallace said. EU nitrogen prices eased in mid-October as some European plants resumed production due to softening natural gas prices, he said.

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