Coffee Falls to 11-Month Low as Credit Crunch Crimps Buying

By Ron Day

Oct. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Coffee fell to its lowest price in New York since November amid speculation that tight credit has made it hard for buyers to finance purchases.

Credit markets have frozen as banks balk at lending to each other for longer than a day amid concern that more of their peers will fail. U.S. payrolls shrank in September, signaling the country may be heading for its worst recession in at least a quarter century as the 13-month-old credit crisis worsens.

``We're not getting enough small loans to get coffee and keep it in place,'' said Jaime Menahem, a trader at Alaron Trading Corp. in Miami. ``We're seeing a slowdown across the board in demand for any commodity.''

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