NEW YORK: Cocoa futures closed firm on M onday, lifted late by speculative buying, but raw sugar gave up early gains to end lower along with arabica coffee in a quiet start to business in the softs complex after a holiday break.
Trading was slow, with London markets still closed for the Easter break. New York soft commodity markets were shut Friday for the Good Friday holiday.
"General commodity weakness continues to pervade a lot of markets," said Sterling Smith, analyst with Country Hedging in Minnesota.
Volumes in sugar and cocoa were around a quarter under the 30-day norm near the close of trade, Thomson Reuters data showed. Arabica coffee volume was slightly below average.
"There's not a whole lot of news out there," added The Price Group analyst Jack Scoville.
US cocoa futures got a boost from late speculative buying and spread trade to recover from a fall to a three-month low during the session, dealers said.
"Right now there's not a lot of reason for speculators to be long the cocoa market. We don't have a lot of weather threat" in West Africa, Smith said.
The benchmark July cocoa futures contract gained $10 to end at $2,118 per tonne, having touched its lowest on the second position contract since Jan. 9.
Volume in cocoa topped the 30-day average due to May/July spreading ahead of the spot month's first notice day April 17.
The cocoa market will watch for European grind data, a key measure of consumption, due later in the week, and North American grind figures due next week.
SUGAR DOWN LATE, COFFEE STUMBLES
Raw sugar futures ended down as traders anticipated the imminent start of the cane harvest of the premiere center-south cane crop in top producer/exporter Brazil. Late speculative sales and switch trade knocked the market into negative territory after buying by small speculators lifted prices early, dealers said.
Scoville said bumper supplies available nearby and in the months ahead should keep prices under pressure.
The key May raw sugar contract fell 0.15 cent to close at 24.43 cents per lb.
Arabica coffee futures fell, with traders citing fund selling, but prices remained well within the range of roughly $1.74-$1.90 that has held for the past month.
"Coffee is attempting to form support around $1.80. It's probably getting played out to the downside," Smith said. "I think coffee is probably finding fair value given where demand and consumption are."
The key May arabica coffee contract dropped 4.95 cents or almost 3 percent to close at $1.7805 per lb.
"The funds have pulled back their long positions so the market is left more or less to outside markets," Smith explained. "Demand being what it is and being quite stout, I think we can support it at $1.80."
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