Liffe May robusta coffee ended $31 lower at $2,237 a tonne on Friday after rising to a 2-1/4-year peak of $2,287 on Thursday. Robustas track arabicas lower as commodities are spooked by momentary 10 percent plunge in raw sugar on Thursday. Liffe March white sugar dips $19.80 to close at $794.40 per tonne on Friday, below Wednesday's record high of $857.00, as the contract catches up with the drop in New York after London markets closed in the previous session.
New York raw sugar saw its biggest one-day fall in over a month on Thursday as a cyclone in Australia did less damage than feared. Liffe May cocoa closes 48 pounds lower at 2,125 pounds a tonne as the market drifts lower, assessing whether the month-long ban in top grower Ivory Coast will be extended.
The lower forecast could deter New Delhi from finally approving unrestricted exports, giving sugar markets another boost after a cyclone that pounded north-east Australia on Wednesday sent raw sugar to its highest in three decades. "The Indian output forecast is more bullish for the nearby months than the cyclone in Australia," a sugar futures dealer said. "It means it is less likely we'll see any significant Open General Licence (OGL) export volumes (from India)."
Uncertainty over how much sugar India would export has underpinned sugar markets in recent months. Coffee moved further away from its recent 13-1/2-year high after tracking gains in other commodities for three days. But Thursday's momentary plunge in sugar futures spooked prices lower, traders said.
"Coffee is shaken down a bit," one London-based trader said. "The (commodities) market clearly got a little overstretched and ran out of steam yesterday, so there's a knock-on effect. Coffee prices remained underpinned by a tight supply situation for high-quality arabica beans. In cocoa, futures on ICE fell in light volumes, drifting further from last week's one-year high, as the market focused on whether presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara would extend his call for a month-long cocoa export ban in Ivory Coast. The ban expires on February 23 and appears to have been widely heeded, tightening availability of cocoa supplies.
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