Commodity
What did historian Mark Pendergrast describe coffee as?
Coffee
Coffee is bought and sold by roasters, investors, and price speculators as a tradable commodity in commodity markets and exchange-traded funds. Coffee futures contracts for Grade 3 washed arabicas are traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange under ticker symbol KC, with contract deliveries occurring every year in March, May, July, September, and December. Coffee is an example of a product that has been susceptible to significant commodity futures price variations. Higher and lower grade arabica coffees are sold through other channels. Futures contracts for robusta coffee are traded on the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange and, since 2007, on the New York IntercontinentalExchange. Coffee has been described by many, including historian Mark Pendergrast, as the world's "second most legally traded commodity." However, this claim has been recently refuted by Pendergrast among others after further research.