SOFTS-Raw sugar prices hit two-month highs, cocoa also up
Aug 28 (Reuters) – Raw sugar futures on ICE rose on Monday to hit their highest prices in more than two months amid concerns regarding supplies from Asia, while coffee and cocoa were also up.
There was no trading of London cocoa, robusta coffee and refined sugar futures due to a banking holiday.
SUGAR
October raw sugar SBc1 futures were up 2.05% to 25.34 cents per lb at 1325 GMT. The contract earlier hit the highest price since late June at 25.35 cents.
Dealers said the market has been supported by news that India is expected to ban mills from exporting sugar in the season starting in October, halting shipments for the first time in seven years.
There were also concerns about the production in Thailand, where below-average rains were seen reducing sugarcane development.
Production in the key Centre-South region of Brazil, however, is running well above last season’s pace with agricultural yields seen up 24% in July.
The El Nino climate pattern remains the main factor as it could further disrupt production in Asia or the harvest progress in Brazil, traders said.
COCOA
December New York cocoa CCc2 was up 0.5% to $3,485 per metric ton at 1325 GMT.
Dealers said that concerns over crop disease in West Africa and the prospect of a third successive global deficit in the 2023/24 season that begins on Oct. 1 were supporting the market.
The 2023/24 production outlook has been dented by El Nino, with the U.S. Climate Prediction Center saying the weather phenomenon is expected to strengthen through the winter.
COFFEE
December arabica coffee KCc2 was up 0.4% to $1.5375 per pound at 1325 GMT.
Dealers said that most speculators and financial investors continue to bet on a large Brazilian coffee crop in 2023, and are holding a short position in the market.
“If there is anything indicative that the Brazilian crop, in the end, will not be as big, we could see a correction upwards in this market,” one broker said.
(Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira; Editing by Paul Simao)
((marcelo.teixeira@tr.com; +1 332 220 8062))
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