Arabica coffee surged to a 13-year high on signs that shrinking supplies in Brazil and Colombia, the world’s two biggest producers, will fail to keep up with demand. Sugar fell. Arabica prices have surged 84 percent in the past year. Starbucks Corp. this week forecast second-quarter profit that fell short of analysts’ estimates as it projected paying more for coffee. A growers group in Colombia said it expects output to fall and a researcher said that Brazil’s crop will decline. “There is a production deficit, and we hear that several coffee traders and brokers are demanding higher prices from companies,” said George Kopp, a senior market analyst at International Futures Group in Chicago. “Also, there is technical buying.” Arabica coffee for March delivery advanced 8.05 cents, or 3.4 percent, to settle at $2.45 a pound at 2 p.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. Earlier, the price reached $2.4635, the highest since June 1997. The commodity added 1.9 percent this week, a third weekly gain. Futures may rise to $2.50, Kopp said. Colombia’s National Federation of Coffee Growers said the harvest in Antioquia, the largest producing region, may drop below last year’s levels after excessive rainfall. Brazil’s output may fall as much as 21 percent in 2011 as trees produce less after record yields in 2010, Safras & Mercado, a research company, said on Jan. 21. Robusta Prices In London, robusta-coffee futures for March delivery climbed $39, or 1.9 percent, to $2,129 a metric ton on NYSE Liffe. The price has gained 64 percent in the past year. Arabica is grown mainly in Latin America and brewed by specialty companies including Starbucks. Robusta beans, used in instant coffee, are harvested mostly in Asia and parts of Africa. Raw-sugar futures for March delivery fell 0.24 cent, or 0.7 percent, to 33.94 cents a pound in New York. Prices dropped amid concern that Egypt will delay purchases because of the political turmoil. “The timing of the imports may be pushed back,” said Michael McDougall, a senior vice president at Newedge USA in New York. Kingsman SA, a Lausanne, Switzerland-based sugar broker, estimates Egypt will import 1.135 million tons of raw sugar this year. In London, refined-sugar futures for March delivery fell $10.10, or 1.2 percent, to $814.40 a ton on NYSE Liffe. To contact the reporter on this story: Debarati Roy in New York at droy5@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Patrick McKiernan at pmckiernan@bloomberg.net.

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