Coffee price slides on Latin America supply Coffee prices tumbled to a four and a half year low as the market was hit by a continued flow of supplies from Latin America while the fall in the Brazilian real against the dollar encouraged selling by producers. Arabica coffee, the high-quality bean used in espressos and cappuccinos, has continued to plumb multiyear lows because of bumper crops in the past few years. ICE arabica coffee for March delivery fell on Thursday to $1.1285 a pound, the lowest level since 2009, as Brazilian producers took advantage of the real's decline against the dollar, locking in future sales prices. Coffee traders said underlying demand for arabica, especially from large consumer groups, remained firm, but supplies from Latin America were weighing on the market. With plentiful supplies, prices have failed to respond to the Brazilian government's pledge this year to buy 3m 60kg bags of coffee from the market. And calls from producers and traders for further intervention had not provided support, said analysts. A recovery in Colombian coffee production is also weighing on the arabica market. The results of the renovation programme of the past few years are coming through, leading to increased output, while improved weather conditions have also helped production levels. Macquarie in London expects the Colombian crop to rise 15 per cent to 9.5m tonnes in the 2013-14 season. Prices for robusta, the lower-quality bean mainly used in instant coffee, have also been hit by expectations of a bumper crop in Vietnam, the leading producer. Liffe robusta coffee for January delivery has been hovering around the three-year-low level of $1,580 a tonne during the past week. The price difference between arabica and robusta - which hit $1.89 at its peak in 2011 - has fluctuated by about 40 cents a pound during the past four months. With some Brazilian arabica bean prices trading lower than that of robusta, the long awaited "switch" - where coffee roasters shift from robusta to arabica - was starting, said a Switzerland-based coffee trader. "First it happened in Brazil and now it is happening in the Mediterranean countries," he said. The jump in arabica prices from 2010 to the middle of 2012 and the eurozone crisis prompted many coffee roasters to increase the amount of robusta in their blends or to offer cheaper blends with higher robusta content. The reversal of this move, which traders had been expecting since the start of the year, was finally happening, said analysts.