SOFTS-Raw sugar hits highest prices in over 4 months
NEW YORK, Sept 12 (Reuters) – Raw sugar prices on ICE rose to the highest in more than four months on Tuesday as speculators added more contracts to their large long position amid the backdrop of limited Asian production. Cocoa was little changed, while coffee fell.
SUGAR
* October raw sugar SBc1 settled up 0.43 cent, or 1.6%, at 26.83 cents per lb, after earlier hitting the highest since late April at 27.26 cents per lb.
* Dealers said that speculators led the buying during the session, increasing their long position in the sweetener.
* They added that fundamentals remain strong due to production problems in Asia, despite a slight improvement in rainfall in India where a weak monsoon this season is raising concerns about the outlook for cane production.
* A widespread drought in the state of Louisiana led the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday to cut its projection for the country’s sugar crop.
* October white sugar LSUc1 rose $13.30, or 1.8%, at $746.50 a metric ton.
COCOA
* December London cocoa LCCc2 was little changed at 3,039 pounds per ton, with the market consolidating just below the prior session’s 46-year high of 3,063 pounds.
* Dealers said the prospect of a drop in production in top grower Ivory Coast in the 2023/24 season has helped to support prices.
* They noted global supplies were tightening with a global deficit widely forecast for both the current and next season.
* Ghana has raised the price it pays farmers by more than 63% for the upcoming season and the focus is now on the level paid by Ivory Coast. Any significant difference in those two prices can lead to smuggling of cocoa between the countries and also to other neighbouring countries such as Togo.
* December New York cocoa CCc2 fell $7, or 0.2%, to $3,649 a ton.
COFFEE
* December arabica coffee KCc2 settled down 0.85 cent, or 0.6%, at $1.52 per lb.
* Dealers said the flowering of next year’s Brazilian crop had been good so far, but rains are needed over the next two or three weeks to ensure the flowers eventually become cherries.
* November robusta coffee LRCc2 fell $9, or 0.4%, at $2,430 a ton.
(Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira and Nigel Hunt; Editing by Susan Fenton and Shailesh Kuber)
((marcelo.teixeira@tr.com; +1 332 220 8062; Reuters Messaging: marcelo.teixeira.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net – https://twitter.com/tx_marcelo))
Source Link: https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/softs-raw-sugar-hits-highest-prices-in-over-4-months
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