Commodities : Thursday, Jan. 30, 1986 : Coffee Futures Plunge Limit

Coffee futures prices Thursday plunged the limit allowed for daily trading for the third consecutive session on the Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange in New York.

This brought the contract for delivery in March to a new low in the current decline and 68 cents a pound below the highest price set in what had been a steady runup since fall.

“Ugandan rebels reopened roads through the country,” said Sandy Kaul, an analyst in New York with Shearson Lehman Bros. A new rebel government was sworn in Wednesday.

“The roads had been closed and Uganda hasn’t been able to take advantage of the rising prices” over the last couple months, she said. Uganda has 4 million bags of coffee in stock and a 3-million-bag harvest this season. There are 132 pounds per bag, she added. “One of the problems (causing the current decline),” Kaul said, “is that there is plenty of supply around now.”

She said a lot of coffee has been arriving in London, New York and New Orleans because of the Feb. 19 delivery date coming up for the March contract.