Commodities

COFFEE futures in London closed with small gains after a two-week meeting of the International Coffee Organisation to negotiate a new price-stabilising agreement ended in deadlock.

May coffee futures on London Fox rose dollars 2 to close at dollars 930 a tonne. Dealers said the outcome of the talks was widely expected.

Delegates last week discussed matters including whether to review the proposed export quota system after a year of operation.

But the stickiest issues that led to the collapse of the last pact - how to determine each producing country's quota, and the prices to be defended - were not broached.