Commodities for Tuesday, Sept. 17, 1985 : Coffee Futures Advance

Prices of coffee futures were higher Tuesday on the Coffee, Sugar & Cocoa Exchange as members of the International Coffee Organization discussed lower quotas and higher prices in London.

While no final decisions were made, futures traders were reluctant to hold onto selling positions while such measures were pending, said Deirde Macleod, a coffee analyst in New York with Prudential-Bache Securities.

The organization was considering an increase in its price range of $1.20-$1.40 a pound to $1.25-$1.45 a pound for the 1985-86 marketing year, which begins Oct. 1, along with a decrease in the cartel’s quota to 55 million 132-pounds bags from 58.2 million.

Macleod said buying came from roasters who were fixing prices for their future requirements, and from speculators, many of them in response to trends on price charts.

Kim Badenhop, a coffee analyst in New York with Merrill Lynch Futures, noted also that the market is concerned about dry conditions in the coffee belt of Brazil.

Coffee settled 1.27 cents to 2.33 cents higher with the contract for delivery in September at 136 cents a pound.

Grain and soybean futures prices were mostly higher.