NEW YORK/LONDON: Sugar futures turned lowered on Monday as speculators spying hefty supplies sold into light volumes, and cocoa prices fell amid favorable weather in key growing regions.
Arabica rose, inching further off last week’s 4-1/2-year low.
SUGAR
* October raw sugar settled down 0.11 cent, or 0.96 percent, at 11.4 cents per lb.
* Cane crush data from Brazil’s Centre-South region is due out this week, with expectations for reduced sugar supplies.
* “The issue is that every time prices start to rise on talk of dry weather affecting yields, then there’s something else: Thailand gets ready to move its record crop or there’s indications of more supplies from India,” said Jack Scoville, a vice president with Price Futures Group in Chicago.
* October white sugar turned lower to settle down 40 cents, or 0.12 percent, at $330.90 per tonne. Earlier in the session, nearby prices saw support from expectations of tight supplies of sugar that could meet necessary criteria to be tendered against the contract. The August contract expires on July 16.
* Selling picked up throughout the session, leaving the premium of August futures over October at $8.40 per tonne, down from $9.60 previously. The spread was still near last week’s peak of $12.50.
COCOA
* September London cocoa settled down 7 pounds, or 0.39 percent, at 1,782 pounds per tonne, paring losses as the pound reversed earlier gains against the US dollar.
* September New York cocoa settled down $22, or 0.89 percent, at $2,443 per tonne.
* “We have good prospects for the main crop coming on and that’s keeping prices under pressure,” said Scoville.
* Rains in West Africa, the world’s top production region, will favor main crop growth and ease any “lingering dryness” in parts of Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria, weather forecasters with Radiant Solutions in Gaithersburg, Maryland, said in a daily note.
* Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast reached 1.787 million tonnes between Oct. 1 and July 8, exporters estimated on Monday.
COFFEE
* September arabica coffee edged up 0.95 cent, or 0.83 percent, to settle at $1.1505 per lb, consolidating after sharply rebounding on Friday from a 4-1/2 year low of $1.069.
* September robusta coffee settled up $33, or 1.99 percent, at $1,695 per tonne, continuing a sharp rebound from Friday’s low of $$1,610, the weakest for the second position since May 2016.
Source: Brecorder
