Coffee in one minute
There are two kinds of coffee on the market. Arabica, the softer one. Robusta, the stronger and cheaper one.
Green beans are bought at origin, shipped in bags or in bulk, stored in warehouses near the roasters, and sold to them lot by lot.
Most contracts are signed long before the price is known. That is the part that makes coffee tricky.
How a coffee price is made
Arabica follows the ICE Coffee C contract, in US cents per pound, lots of 37,500 lb. Robusta follows ICE London, in US dollars per tonne, lots of 10 tonnes.
Many physical contracts are PTBF: price to be fixed. Buyer and seller agree the differential today. The futures part is fixed later, on a day the buyer chooses.
Example
Say you agree arabica at +20 cents over the Coffee C.
Weeks later, the buyer fixes when the market is at 200 cents.
Price: 220 cents per pound, so $2.20 per pound, about $4,850 per tonne.
Had they fixed at 180, the price would be 200 cents. Same contract, different money.
Four traps that cost real money
1. Cents, not dollars. "Coffee at 220" is 220 cents per pound, so $2.20. Not $220. And robusta at 4,500 is dollars per tonne. Two units on the same desk.
2. Unfixed means exposed. Until a PTBF contract is fixed, you hold a differential, not a price. Every unfixed lot moves with the futures. Your position must count them.
3. Bags change with the origin. Statistics count 60 kg bags. Colombia ships 70 kg. Much of Central America ships 69 kg. A count of bags is not a weight until you know which bag.
4. EUDR covers coffee. From 30 December 2026, coffee sold in the EU must come with the location of every farm, and proof it was not deforested after 2020.
What Apollo does for a coffee desk
- Each contract keeps its differential and its fixations. Unfixed lots show in the position, futures month by futures month. How the position stays live.
- Arabica in cents per pound and robusta in dollars per tonne live in the same book, each in its own unit. Convert a coffee price for free.
- Warehouse stock is followed lot by lot and reconciled with the keepers' reports every month. Stock reconciled every month.
- Farm plots are imported, screened for deforestation and attached to each shipment. Check your EUDR plot file for free.
Frequently asked questions
Why is arabica priced in cents per pound?
Because the ICE Coffee C futures contract, the arabica benchmark, is quoted in US cents per pound. Robusta futures in London are quoted in US dollars per tonne.
What does PTBF mean in coffee?
Price to be fixed. The differential is agreed when the contract is signed, and the futures part of the price is fixed later, usually on an instruction from the buyer.
How much does a bag of coffee weigh?
60 kg is the statistical standard. Real bags depend on the origin: 70 kg for Colombia, 69 kg for much of Central America.
Which contract is used for green coffee in Europe?
The European Standard Contract for Coffee (ESCC), published by the European Coffee Federation in 2018. It replaced the older European Contract for Coffee and its variants.
Sources
- ICE: Coffee C futures (cents per pound, 37,500 lb)
- ICE: Robusta coffee futures (dollars per tonne, 10 tonnes)
- FoodDrinkEurope: the European Standard Contract for Coffee
- International Coffee Organization: 60 kg statistical bag
- European Commission: EUDR delayed to December 2026
Facts checked on 29 October 2026. Prices in the examples are illustrations, not market quotes.