Coffee edges toward a bear market

Coffee is hovering on the edge of bear-market territory amid shifting supply expectations in Brazil, Bloomberg reports.

By the numbers: As of Friday, ICE stockpiles showed their first consecutive weekly gain since August, with weakened Brazilian currency increasing interest in "exports priced in the greenback," per Bloomberg. Coffee beans for delivery in March declined to $1.1215 a pound on ICE Futures, and the price fell 19% from a December high — inching closer to the 20% threshold of a bear market, Bloomberg writes.

• Brazil's top arabica shipper Cooxupe said it was running low on beans to fill new orders, "countering forecasts of ample supply that drove prices to 13-year-lows," Bloomberg notes.

What they're saying: “As the crop was smaller last year, the big export volume implies Brazil probably had ample inventories,” Nelson Carvalhaes, CeCafe president, said at a press briefing.

Go deeper: Investors react to Brazil's plummeting coffee reserves