NEW YORK/LONDON: Robusta coffee futures on ICE plunged on Friday to two-year lows as the market played catch-up to arabica, while raw sugar futures rose in their sixth consecutive positive finish.
COFFEE
* May robusta coffee settled down $5, or 0.3 percent, at $1,485 per tonne, after hitting $1,463, the lowest for the second month since March 2016.
* Prices are pressured by plentiful global supplies and are now playing catch-up to arabica, dealers said.
* "We've been under-hedged in robusta between Brazil, Vietnam, and Indonesia," said one US trader. "So that will keep a lid on."
* A large Brazilian conilon robusta crop was also pressuring the market, dealers said.
* On the week, the contract shed 2.9 percent, its worst weekly performance in 3 months.
* Vietnam coffee prices fell this week, while there was a build-up of supply and muted trade in Indonesia.
* May arabica coffee settled up 0.65 cent, or 0.7 percent, at 97.80 cents per lb. On Tuesday, prices hit a 13-year low of 94.65 cents.
* "We've made a new low and the market is having a hard time sustaining gains," said Rodrigo Costa, director of trading at Comexim USA.
* On the week, the contract lost 0.9 percent, its sixth negative weekly finish in seven.
SUGAR
* May raw sugar settled up 0.11 cent, or 0.9 percent, at 12.52 cents per lb. In the prior session, the contract hit a one-week high of 12.69.
* On the week, the contract gained 2.8 percent as prices rose after hitting a one-month low of 12.08 cents the previous week.
* Still, the contract has been largely range-bound, trading between the 12 and 13 cent levels for most of 2019.
* "It's just fairly priced here," said Shawn Hackett, president of Hackett Financial Advisors.
* Brazil's 2019-20 center-south cane crop that starts in April is likely to exceed the current season's, the first increase from one crop to another since 2015-16, Agroconsult data showed.
* Elsewhere, however, supply concerns could emerge. French sugar trader Sucres et Denrees SA, or Sucden, expects a larger deficit in the world's sugar supply balance in the 2019-20 crop year, at around 4 million tonnes, due to projected decreases in output in India, Thailand and the European Union.
* May white sugar settled up $1.90, or 0.6 percent, at $340.7 per tonne.
COCOA
* May New York cocoa settled down $17, or 0.8 percent, at $2,197 per tonne. On the week, the contract fell 0.9 percent.
* May London cocoa settled down 25 pounds, or 1.5 percent, at 1,656 pounds per tonne.
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