COFFEE AND COCOA FORECAST FOR TODAY AND YESTERDAY'S MARKET CLOSE REVIEW

    NEW YORK, March 17, 2011 - Arabica coffee futures closed higher Wednesday as the market staged a modest rebound after a selling spree sparked by the nuclear plant emergency in Japan which was already reeling from a killerquake and tsunami.

    But cocoa futures were hit by late investor selling to close near an eight-week low.

    COFFEE

    * May arabica coffee futures <KCc2> increased 2.40 cents toconclude at $2.6535 per lb.

Brazil further curtails foreign land purchases

BRASILIA, March 17, 2011 - Brazil has closed a legal loophole used by foreigners to buy farm land, a change of rules that is fueling uncertainty among agricultural investors in one of the world's leading food exporters.

"We simply applied the law," Attorney-General Luis Inacio Adams told Reuters on Wednesday. "Foreigners can buy land up to a certain limit and they can create (minority) partnerships with Brazilians."

-Kenya to reintroduce robusta coffee variety

NAIROBI, March 17, 2011 - Kenya is poised to reintroduce robusta coffee this year in areas that do not normally grow the commodity, and possibly build a factory to process the beans once volumes are substantial, the country's regulator said.

East Africa's biggest economy stopped producing the bean variety almost three decades ago after production plummeted when farmers cut back growing of robusta due to low earnings compared with the arabica variety for which Kenya is renowned.