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What the Coffee C Futures Price Actually Quotes
Read a Coffee C quote in cents per pound, identify its contract month and understand price differentials. Compare the Arabica benchmark with ICO and Robusta prices.
Quick Answer
Coffee C futures are quoted in US cents per pound of exchange-grade green Arabica coffee. A hypothetical quote of 250.00 means $2.50 per pound for the named contract, not $250 for a bag. Read the number together with its delivery month, year and observation date or timestamp.
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A Contract with a Defined Product Behind It
A futures contract standardizes the coffee, quantity and delivery terms for a specified future month. ICE Coffee C is an Arabica benchmark with a 37,500-pound contract and physical-delivery settlement under exchange rules.
Its eligibility includes grade and cup testing. Exchange qualification is a separate classification from a specialty competition score; it does not describe every Arabica lot or a roasted retail product.
Read the Unit Before the Movement
Divide the Coffee C quotation by 100 to convert US cents per pound to US dollars per pound:
| Quotation | Equivalent per pound |
|---|---|
| 250.00 US cents/lb | $2.50/lb |
| 275.00 US cents/lb | $2.75/lb |
| Change: 25.00 US cents/lb | Change: $0.25/lb |
Moving from 250 to 275 is a 10% increase: 25 ÷ 250 = 0.10. The price change is 25 cents, rather than $25, per pound.
For the whole contract, the hypothetical $2.50/lb multiplied by 37,500 pounds gives $93,750 in notional value. Notional value describes the contract's value at that quotation, rather than the margin deposit required to trade it.
The Month and Timestamp Are Part of the Price
ICE lists March, May, July, September and December delivery months for Coffee C. Two reports quoting different months are not necessarily quoting the same contract.
A previous close, a delayed intraday quotation and a monthly average also describe different observations. Keep these four fields together when saving or comparing a quotation:
- Instrument: ICE Coffee C futures, rather than another coffee indicator.
- Unit: US cents per pound.
- Contract: the delivery month and year.
- Observation: the dated close or stated timestamp, including any delay and time zone.
For example, a hypothetical 250.00 for a March contract still needs its year and observation date before it can be compared with another screen. If a report leaves out a field, check its underlying quote source rather than filling it in by guesswork.
A Differential Connects the Benchmark to a Physical Quote
A differential is an amount above or below a reference price for a specified physical coffee. The ICO's indicator-price collection rules give a concrete example of collecting green-coffee quotations relative to the relevant futures market on a defined physical-market basis.
With matching units, the arithmetic is simple. In these hypothetical offers:
- 250 + 35 = 285 US cents/lb, or $2.85/lb.
- 250 − 10 = 240 US cents/lb, or $2.40/lb.
Keep the coffee, quantity, reference month, date and delivery-cost terms with the offer. A differential from one quotation cannot simply be added to an unrelated benchmark from another month or date. Physical contracts may also use other pricing arrangements, so read the actual terms.
Negotiated Differentials and Exchange Adjustments Differ
A buyer and seller can negotiate a differential for their particular physical deal. Exchange specifications separately define premiums or discounts for eligible deliveries. Those adjustments belong to different transactions and rules.
A lot offered above a benchmark is not thereby qualified for exchange delivery. Nor does an exchange adjustment assign a commercial value to every farm or grade from the named country. A plus sign is not a sensory score.
Coffee C Is Not the ICO Composite Indicator Price
Coffee C is a futures contract. The ICO Composite Indicator Price, or I-CIP, is a weighted reference indicator built from specified price information across four groups: Colombian Milds, Other Milds, Brazilian Naturals and Robustas. The ICO publishes the composite and group indicators daily.
The composite therefore includes a different mix of coffees from one Arabica futures contract. Both can be expressed in cents per pound without representing the same market observation. For a historical chart, use the methodology and period applicable to that series.
Robusta Has Another Contract and Another Unit
ICE Robusta futures use a ten-metric-tonne contract, quoted in US dollars per metric tonne. Convert the units before comparing its number with Coffee C.
Using 2,204.62 pounds per metric tonne (rounded), a hypothetical $4,000/tonne gives:
4,000 ÷ 2,204.62 ≈ $1.814/lb, or 181.4 US cents/lb.
The dollar and cent results are rounded from the same calculation. Aligning the units does not align the species, contract eligibility, delivery terms or observation time. A larger number on the original screen can simply be counting a much larger weight unit.
What You Can and Cannot Learn from a C-Price Headline
Use Coffee C to follow a defined green-coffee benchmark at a defined time. For a physical offer, add the differential and transaction terms. To understand a retail bag's price, follow the green-coffee versus retail-price explanation: roasting, other costs and purchase timing sit between the benchmark and the shelf.
A personal note: The number in a coffee headline is often the first thing I notice. I would like the unit and date to be just as easy to find. Being able to translate cents per pound into dollars makes the story feel less remote, even though it still leaves plenty unexplained. I am especially interested in what a producer was actually paid and what making that coffee cost them. A clear benchmark helps me follow the conversation; the people behind it are why I would keep reading.
Sources
- ICE Futures U.S., Coffee C Futures specification
- ICO (2021), Rules on Statistics: Indicator Prices, ICC 105-17 Rev. 1
- ICO, Public Market Information
- ICE Futures Europe, Robusta Coffee Futures specification