LONDON: Raw sugar futures on ICE were lower on Monday, pressured partly by a further decline in gasoline prices in Brazil while coffee and cocoa prices rose.
SUGAR
October raw sugar was down 0.38 cents, or 2.75 percent, at 13.43 cents per lb by 1147 GMT.
Petrobras has decided to cut gasoline prices at refineries in Brazil by 5.9 percent.
A lower gasoline price makes it less attractive in Brazil to make ethanol from sugar cane and so encourages its use to produce sugar.
"We've had the rally in the sugar price and that has pulled the sugar price away from the ethanol floor. Now with this (drop in gasoline prices), it has pushed that parity even further away," one dealer said.
A large delivery against the July raws contract was also seen as slightly bearish as the exchange is considered the buyer of last resort.
ED&F Man, Wilmar International and Bunge are expected to be the buyers of 31,755 lots, or 1.6 million tonnes, of raw sugar against the July contract on ICE Futures US that expired on Friday, two traders said.
August white sugar fell $2.80, or 0.69 percent, to $400.90 a tonne.
COFFEE
September robusta coffee was up $13, or 0.6 percent, at $2,161 a tonne.
Dealers said the main focus in the robusta market was Monday's first notice day for the July contract, with the open interest remaining comparatively large.
A total of 762 lots of coffee were tendered, with Vietnam (337), Indonesia (231) and Sierra Leone (103) the main origins. The largest seller was BNP Paribas (638) while almost all the coffee was bought by Macquarie Bank (742).
July's premium to September rose to about $22 on Monday from about $12 at Friday's close. At one stage on Friday it had soared to about $60 on short-covering ahead of first notice day.
September arabica coffee rose 2.30 cents, or 1.83 percent, to $1.28 per lb.
Dealers said that speculators had begun to scale back a large net short position and the rebound could gather pace if the market climbs above $1.30.
COCOA
September New York cocoa rose $22, or 1.13 percent, to $1,962 a tonne after peaking at a two-week high of $1,982 as speculators trimmed a large net shorts ahead of Tuesday's US holiday.
September London cocoa rose 21 pounds, or 1.38 percent, to 1,546 pounds a tonne.
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