Dutch green coffee trader Sucden Coffee agreed to a settlement with the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) following a notice that it โ€œmay haveโ€ violated a rule designed to prevent coffee market manipulation.

Sucden Coffee Netherlands B.V., part of the soft commodities trading company Sucden, agreed to pay a $20,000 fine while surrendering more than $670,000 in profits gained from the alleged rules violation.

Sucden neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing, according to the settlement.

According to a published disciplinary notice from ICE โ€” the for-profit publicly traded company that operates the ICE coffee futures market, a.k.a. arabica โ€œC marketโ€ โ€” Sucden Coffee was found in potential violation of exchange rule Rule 6.18(b).

The rule prevents individuals from holding more than 500 futures contracts in one direction โ€” either buying or selling โ€” for months when delivery notices are issued. The rule is intended to prevent corners, squeezes and other forms of market manipulation. Itโ€™s also designed to prevent individual market participants from excessively influencing the market.

Sucden did not immediately reply to requests for comment regarding the ICE settlement.

The ICE reached a settlement following similar allegations against coffee trader Olam International last year. In that deal, Olam agreed to pay a $30,000 fine and surrender profits of more than $430,000. As part of that settlement, Olam also did not admit nor deny wrongdoing.

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