Coffee futures settled slightly higher in the middle of the trading week as investors comb through the latest technical news. For now, a lot of the focus appears to be on Brazil as the South American mark swamped the ICE Futures exchange warehouses, squeezing out the smaller producers and putting pressure on prices. As traders took profits on Joe Biden’s likely 2020 US presidential win and Pfizer manufacturing a coronavirus vaccine, coffee contracts are now homing in on the fundamentals.

December coffee futures rose $0.0025, or 0.23%, to $1.0935 per pound at 17:39 GMT on Wednesday on the US ICE Futures exchange. Coffee prices had topped $1.10 before paring its gains, adding to their weekly rally of about 5%. Despite the latest surge, coffee remains down more than 15% year-to-date.

Brazil is looking to build on its market share in the global arabica coffee market as it flooded the ICE Futures exchange warehouses with its coffee beans. The latest data highlighted that Brazilian coffee stationed in ICE facilities and available for delivery surged to 88,294 bags, up from 650 bags in early September.

But this could only be the beginning. Analysts forecast that the South American country could dump up to 400,000 bags in the coming months. This figure could be even higher in the years to come due to ICE modifying its rules to permit semi-washed coffee to be delivered, as well as its high-end washed futures.

Market observers had warned that the world’s top grower could soon supply large volumes of affordable coffee for mass consumption amid mechanized harvesting. This has allowed Brazil to limit its production costs. Semi-washed beans consist of a process that requires fewer steps than fully washed beans. But while this does not mean a reduction in quality, the measure does allow for greater output levels.

Honduras has also added to ICE exchange stocks with 856,425 bags, although inventories are down from 1.52 million bags a year ago.

According to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), speculators slashed their net long positions by nearly 20,000 contracts in the week ending November 3.

In other agricultural commodities, December corn futures slipped $0.06, or 1.42%, to $4.17 per pound. December wheat futures tumbled $0.1025, or 1.68%, to $5.9825 a bushel. January soybean futures picked up $0.0675, or 0.59%, to $11.5275 per bushel.