Relationship between Coffee Prices in Spot and Futures Markets-An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

The present study explored the relationship between spot and futures coffee prices. The Correlation and Regression analysis were carried out based on monthly observations of International Coffee Organization (ICO) indicator prices of the four groups (Colombian Milds, Other Milds, Brazilian Naturals, and Robustas) representing Spot markets and the averages of 2nd and 3rd positions of the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) New York for Arabica and ICE Europe for Robusta representing the Futures market for the period 1990 to 2019. The study also used the monthly average prices paid to coffee growers in India from 1990 to 2019. The estimated correlation coefficients indicated both the Futures prices and Spot prices of coffee are highly correlated. Further, estimated regression coefficients revealed a very strong relationship between Futures prices and Spot prices for all four ICO group indicator prices. Hence, the ICE New York (Arabica) and ICE Europe (Robusta) coffee futures prices are very closely related to Spot prices. The estimated regression coefficients between Futures prices and the price paid to coffee growers in India confirmed the positive relationship, but the dispersion of more prices over the trend line indicates a lesser degree of correlation between the price paid to growers at India and Futures market prices during the study period.