Sempra Adds Coffee to Portfolio, Sources Say

Sempra Energy, an energy services holding company based in San Diego that also has trading operations, apparently has branched out in the commodity arena to include coffee in its portfolio, sources said.

David Messer, president of Sempra Energy Trading, was not available for comment, and a company spokesman did not confirm or deny the firm’s activities outside of energy and metals.

“We have a policy of not commenting on our individual trading positions. Nearly all our business is in energy and metals. From time to time we may also have business in other commodities.

These other commodities comprise a small portion of our overall trading activities,” said Doug Kline, spokesman for Sempra Energy Trading, which is based in Stamford, Conn.

Stephen Baum, chief executive of Sempra Energy, told Reuters in an interview last month that the company was looking at new businesses that fit its mix and returned three times their costs.

Sempra pushed into metals trading after acquiring Enron Corp.’s metals business this year.

A source at one commission house said he understood that Sempra was holding a sizable long position in coffee futures.

Coffee is the second most traded commodity after oil and has been in a prolonged bear market, with futures prices touching an all-time low of 41.50 cents a pound in December 2001 as global production outweighed consumption.

Bean prices have improved in recent months to about 56 cents a pound, but prices remain below the cost of production for many Central American farmers, and most analysts expect prices to remain depressed until production comes into better balance with demand.