- Ticker Symbol: KC
- Exchange: ICE
- Trading Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EST.
- Contract Size: 37,500 pounds
- Contract Months: March, May, July, September, December
- Price Quote: price ounce. Ex 118.20 cents per pound or $1.182 per pound
- Tick Size: .05 or 5/100 cent/lb., equivalent to $18.75 per contract. 1 cent per pound equals $375 per contract.
- Last Trading Day: Eight business days prior to last business day of delivery month.
A coffee tree will yield an amount of coffee beans to fill a one-pound can of ground coffee during each growing season.
It takes 3 to 5 years after planting a coffee tree before it can produce marketable coffee beans.
The world's largest producers of coffee are Brazil, Vietnam, Columbia and Indonesia.
Brazil and Columbia mainly produce Arabica coffee. Vietnam produces Robusta coffee, which is considered to be lower quality than Arabica.
Arabica is the type of coffee traded at ICE Futures US(ICE).
The world typically produces about 120 million, 60 kilo bags of coffee per year.
The United States is the largest importer of coffee.
The world typically consumes about 120 million, 60 kilo bags of coffee per year.
Kraft, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, and Sara Lee are the "Big 4" roaster companies that buy about 50 percent of all the annual production of coffee.
- Coffee futures are prone to rallies during the summer months (Southern Hemisphere) in Brazil due to freezes or the threat of freezes. They average a freeze about every 5 years
- Coffee futures have remained relatively stable since the late 1990s. Commodities will typically make a large move after a long period of calm prices.
- I prefer to sell (write) coffee options due to the high premiums they typically have. It is a good alternative to trading coffee futures contracts. There is virtually unlimited risk in this strategy, so be careful.
- Buying out of the money coffee options rarely seems to work.
