LONDON: Raw sugar futures fell on Friday, pressured by recent weakness in crude oil prices, while arabica coffee was on track for a fourth consecutive daily rise.
Sugar
May raw sugar fell 0.7% to 19.36 cents per lb by 1121 GMT.
Dealers said the start of the new sugar season in Centre-South Brazil would increase the focus on energy prices as mills choose whether to use newly harvested cane to produce biofuel ethanol or sugar.
“The ethanol price, and sugar’s parity equivalent, will provide a stronger anchor for the market,” Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Tobin Gorey said in a note.
May white sugar fell 0.5% to $538.90 a tonne.
Raw sugar prices rise buoyed by higher crude prices
Coffee
May arabica coffee rose 1.15% to $2.29 per lb.
Dealers said the recent bout of fund long liquidation had now abated and the market was regaining ground steadily and on track to rise for a fourth consecutive session.
May robusta coffee rose 0.5% to $2,176 a tonne.
Cocoa
May London cocoa fell 1.2% to 1,748 pounds a tonne, slipping back after setting a more than two-week high of 1,788 pounds on Thursday.
Dealers said the market remained underpinned by expectations for a large global deficit in the 2021/22 season, though a potential drop in demand linked to the conflict in Ukraine could reduce its size.
“Both arabica coffee and cocoa are ‘luxury’ commodities and we expect the war to weigh on demand and prices for the foreseeable future,” Fitch Solutions said in a note.
May New York cocoa fell 1.1% to $2,622 a tonne.
Source: Brecorder
