NEW YORK/LONDON: Cocoa futures on ICE rallied for the second straight session on Friday, the London market reaching a one-month high on support from the expiry of July options, while arabica coffee fell to the lowest in more than two years.
New York cocoa, arabica coffee, and raw sugar markets will shut for a US holiday on Wednesday, July 4.
COCOA
September London cocoa settled up 25 pounds, or 1.4 percent, at 1,834 pounds per tonne, after rising to 1,851 pounds, the highest since May 31.
Focus remained on a July London options expiry on Friday, helping to lift prices above 1,800 pounds, traders said.
September New York cocoa settled up $61, or 2.5 percent, at $2,512 per tonne.
The second-position contract closed the second quarter down 2.8 percent, as crop weather in West Africa improved. This was in sharp contrast to the first quarter’s rally of 36.5 percent.
COFFEE
September arabica coffee settled down 0.65 cent, or 0.6 percent, at $1.151 per lb, after touching its lowest since March 2016 at $1.145.
The second-position contract closed the second quarter lower, falling for the third straight quarter as top grower Brazil began to harvest what is widely expected to be a record coffee crop.
“The low prices are likely to deter coffee growers from selling their coffee for now,” said Commerzbank in a note.
September robusta coffee settled down $7, or 0.4 percent, at $1,690 per tonne.
SUGAR
July raw sugar, which expired at the end of the session, settled down 0.02 cent at 11.86 cents. This is a 0.39-cent discount to October, after briefly widening to 0.49 cent, the biggest for the contract.
The spot contract closed the second quarter down 4 percent, its sixth decline out of the past seven quarters.
October raw sugar closed flat at 12.25 cents.
Prices failed to push through the 10-day moving average on Friday, which attracted light speculative selling, dealers said.
Sentiment was also dampened by persistent worries about ample global supplies, partly due to a surge in Indian output this season, dealers said.
“India is going to keep being the glass ceiling above the market,” one European dealer said.
There were also worries about some weakening in Brazilian ethanol prices, which could eventually inspire some mills to switch more of their output to sugar, dealers said.
October white sugar settled down 10 cents, or 0.03 percent, at $343.90 per tonne.
Source: Brecorder
