Coffee Futures Prices Dive

Coffee futures went into a steep dive Thursday for the fourth consecutive session on continued concern about oversupply and the lack of global export controls.

On other markets, cattle futures were off sharply, most grains and soybeans were higher, oil continued gaining and gold declined while silver advanced.

The distant delivery months of coffee futures retreated 6 cents a pound--an expanded limit for daily trading--in an effort to narrow the price gap with the nearby contracts.

The disparity developed Tuesday when the March and May contracts, which trade without daily limits, plunged about 16 cents a pound.

The market fell apart after the International Coffee Organization adjourned its London meeting this week without agreeing to reinstate export quotas on member nations.

“Until they’re reinstate, the pressure will continue,” said Judy Weissman, an analyst in New York with Shearson Lehman Bros.