NEW YORK/LONDON: Raw sugar futures on ICE climbed to a seven-week high on Monday, boosted by growing belief that the market has bottomed out after a prolonged downtrend, while New York cocoa prices rose for the first time in five sessions.
SUGAR
* October raw sugar settled up 0.19 cent, or 1.7 percent, at 11.2 cents per lb, after tapping a seven-week high at 11.27 cents.
* The spot contract extended its rebound above last month's 10-year low of 9.91 cents, which marked a 35 percent drop from end-2017 and was expected to erode production.
* Total open interest has fallen daily during the rebound, down nearly 90,000 contracts to 971,968 contracts on Friday, ICE data show.
* During this rebound, speculators raised a record net short position in raw sugar contracts in the week to Sept. 4, US data showed late Friday.
* "After two years of low prices, production has started to trend downwards ... the best guess is that by 2019/20 we will be back in global deficit," broker Marex Spectron said.
* Beet crops are expected to be lower this season in the European Union and Russia.
* Associated British Foods, parent of British Sugar, said in a trading update on Monday that UK sugar production was expected to be much lower.
* Sugar production in the EU and Russia could also be lower in 2019 "as farmers plant other crops and/or soils are just too dry for beets," Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Tobin Gorey said in a note.
* December white sugar settled up $2.30, or 0.7 percent, at $334.20 per tonne.
* The white October discount to December <LSUV8-Z8> traded wildly and widened to as much as $7.20, from $2.90 the prior session ahead of the October expiry on Friday.
COCOA
* December New York cocoa settled up $41, or 1.8 percent, at $2,300 per tonne.
* "To gain conviction on the upside, the market needs to close back above $2,327 in heavier volumes," Sucden Financial technical analyst Geordie Wilkes said in a market note.
* December London cocoa settled up 8 pounds, or 0.5 percent, at 1,651 pounds per tonne.
COFFEE
* December arabica coffee settled down 1.2 cent, or 1.2 percent, at $1.0125 per lb. It remained within sight of last week's 12-year low of 98.65 cents.
* November robusta coffee settled down $14, or 0.9 percent, at $1,477 per tonne.
* Vietnam, the world's top robusta producer, exported 153,300 tonnes, or 2.55 million 60kg bags, of coffee in August, customs data showed.
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