Friday, 13 March 2015 20:36
LONDON: Robusta coffee futures on ICE recovered from a 13-month low on Friday, while arabica coffee steadied near last week’s 13-month low, pressured by rainfall in Brazil.
Raw sugar futures fell 2 percent to a new six-year low, weighed by a weak Brazilian real currency.
Cocoa steadied, underpinned by concerns over output in Ghana, the second biggest grower. Robusta coffee futures dipped to $ 1,754 per tonne, basis second month, before recovering some ground to trade up $ 4 or 0.2 percent to $ 1,772 per tonne at 1219 GMT.
Arabica coffee futures dipped, pressured by a weak Brazilian real which boosts incentives for Brazilian producers to lock in local currency returns from dollar-denominated sugar and coffee sales.
“In recent weeks the arabicas market has been driven by rains in key growing areas of Brazil,” said Hamish Smith, commodities economist with Capital Economics.
May arabica coffee futures traded down 0.45 cent, or 0.4 percent, at $ 1.3175 per lb.
ICE arabica coffee futures are set for a rebound from near 13-month lows as current prices fail to reflect prospects for falling production and rising demand, a leading Italian coffee importer said.
Front-month May raw sugar futures traded down 0.26 cent, or 2 percent, at 12.95 cents a lb, having earlier dropped to 12.93 cents, the lowest for the spot contract since April 2009.
May white sugar was down $ 3.80, or 1 percent, at $ 367.30 a tonne.
New York May cocoa was down $ 7, or 0.25 percent, at $ 2,831 a tonne.
May London cocoa traded up 2 pounds, or 0.1 percent, at 1,991 pounds a tonne.
“Any further gains and building of upward momentum could see futures trade back above 2,000 pounds,” said Kash Kamal, senior research analyst with Sucden Financial.
Copyright Reuters, 2015
