Liffe March robusta coffee ends $56 higher at $2,185 a tonne after touching a 2-1/4-year peak of $2,204 a tonne in early trading, its highest since September 2008. Dealers say the contract was boosted by fund and investor buying, with underlying tightness in arabicas also underpinning the market.
Liffe March white sugar falls $2.80 to close at $811.60 per tonne, retreating in a technical correction after failing to break above its December 29 record high of $835.80 a tonne in the previous session, dealers said. Liffe May cocoa closes 32 pounds higher at 2,175 pounds a tonne, pushing back towards its six-month high of 2,269 pounds a tonne from a week ago. Exporters said most shippers are complying with a call for a month-long export ban in top grower Ivory Coast, renewing worries about global supply.
Earlier in the day arabica coffee futures scaled a fresh 13-1/2-year peak and robustas touched their highest in 2-1/4 years, extending Friday's rally after breaking through key technical levels. Raw sugar futures slumped, retreating from near 30-year highs, as investor selling set off technical stops, while cocoa climbed on ongoing uncertainty in top grower Ivory Coast.
Arabica coffee futures broke out of a five-week sideways trend and closed at their highest level in 13-1/2 years on Friday, showing the market had found a bottom and prompting buying by dealers who follow price charts to set their strategy. "Coffee has broken new high ground and it's likely to go higher," a London-based commodities trader said. "It's still a bull market overall and it's performing well for the longs."
London March robusta coffee traded up $48 or 2.3 percent to $2,177 a tonne after jumping to $2,204 per tonne in early trading, its highest since September 2008, after an injection of investor and fund buying, the trader said. London March white sugar fell $16.20 or 2 percent to $798.20 per tonne, drawing back from its record high of $835.80 a tonne reached on December 29.
Sugar prices remained underpinned by uncertainty about the level of exports from India and the effect of a looming cyclone on Australia's key sugar region. In cocoa, futures resumed their rally after correcting lower in the previous session, driven up by political turmoil in Ivory Coast, which grows a third of the world's crop.
Cocoa continued to reach Ivory Coast's ports last week, but virtually none of it was registered for export as shippers observed a month-long ban called by presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara, exporters said on Monday. "The continued Ivory Coast problems are keeping the market steady," a London-based trader said. "Everyone knows now that the ban is in place ... but it's still unknown how long it will last or how this will affect the continued supply chain within the country."
London May cocoa gained 14 pounds or 0.7 percent to 2,157 pounds a tonne, pushing back towards their six-month high of 2,269 pounds a tonne from a week ago. Ouattara, the UN-certified winner of a November 28 presidential election, last week called for a ban on cocoa registrations to starve incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo of tax revenues, lifting cocoa prices to a series of one-month peaks.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.