Raw sugar edges up after hitting seven-week low ahead of contract expiry

LONDON: Raw sugar prices on ICE rose on Tuesday after hitting seven-week lows in the previous session as the market came under heavy selling pressure ahead of the front-month contract expiry, while London cocoa touched a nine-month high.

SUGAR

* July raw sugar rose 0.13 cents, or 1.1 percent, to 12.46 cents per lb, having hit its lowest since early March on Monday at 12.3 cents.

* May raw sugar, which expires later this session, traded at a discount of 76 cents to July, indicating poor nearby demand. On Monday the spread nearly doubled to 70 cents from Friday's 39 cents.

* "The widening discount (on Monday) really undermined confidence in the price. What we saw was complete capitulation," one dealer said. He added that deliveries against the May contract were expected to be small, with many having rolled forward their front-month position.

* Sugar has largely been stuck in the 12.50-13 cents trading range since the beginning of March, though it tested the downside of that range on Monday.

* ICE August white sugar rose $2.20, or 0.7 percent, to $336.70 a tonne.

COCOA

* July London cocoa rose 4 pounds, or 0.3 percent, to 1,800 pounds a tonne, having hit its highest since mid-July at $1,802.

* July New York cocoa rose $10, or 0.4 percent, to $2,393 a tonne, having touched its highest in a week and a half.

* Speculators increased their net short position in ICE cocoa by 899 contracts to 28,328 contracts in the week to April 23. In late March they held their largest short in eight months, helping to prompt a short-covering rally.

* Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast reached 1.841 million tonnes between Oct. 1 and April 28, exporters estimated on Monday, up about 14 percent from the same period last season.

COFFEE

* ICE July arabica coffee rose by 1.8 cents, or 1.9 percent, to 94.55 cents per lb.

* The contract rose 1.3 percent last week after three weeks of declines.

* Although prices have steadied since plunging to more than 13-year lows, a massive harvest in Brazil continues to weigh.

* July robusta coffee rose $10, or 0.7 percent, to $1,413 a tonne.

* ICE certified arabica coffee stocks have fallen to their lowest since mid-December, though they remain high overall at 2.45 million bags.