Raw sugar hits 1-1/2 week lows on improved supply outlook, oil price drop

• Crude oil fell after a surprise increase in US crude stocks offset hopes of demand recovery as coronavirus lockdowns are eased.
• Falling energy prices encourage cane mills in Brazil to ramp up sugar output at the expense of cane-based ethanol fuel.
• August white sugar was down $10, or 2.8pc, at $354 a tonne, having hit its highest since early March on Wednesday.

LONDON: Raw sugar futures on ICE hit 1-1/2 week lows on Thursday as crude oil tumbled and white sugar prices slid, indicating tightness in the refined sugar market may be easing.

SUGAR

July raw sugar fell 0.09 cent, or 0.8pc, to 10.70 cents per lb by 1307 GMT.

Crude oil fell after a surprise increase in US crude stocks offset hopes of demand recovery as coronavirus lockdowns are eased.

Falling energy prices encourage cane mills in Brazil to ramp up sugar output at the expense of cane-based ethanol fuel.

Chinese commodities trader COFCO will use its 12A terminal in Brazil's Santos port to move sugar instead of grains beginning in the second half, due to higher sugar output in the world's top producer of the sweetener.

Dealers noted raw sugar seems to be "uncomfortable" above 11 cents, with growing output from Brazil and signs of easing tightness in white sugar, but they also said there was robust support below 10.50.

August white sugar was down $10, or 2.8pc, at $354 a tonne, having hit its highest since early March on Wednesday.

COFFEE

July arabica coffee fell 2 cents, or 2pc to $1.0050 per lb.

Brazilian cooperative Cooxupe said its coffee producers had harvested 6.06pc of the planted area by May 22, slightly higher than the 5.5pc harvested in the same period of 2018, the last "on-year" in the country's biennial crop cycle.

July robusta coffee was down $17, or 1.4pc, at $1,193 a tonne.

Coffee prices in Vietnam, the world's top robusta producer, edged higher this week as farmers ran down their inventories.

COCOA

July New York cocoa was up $48, or 2pc, at $2,411 a tonne.

Cocoa is gaining support from falling output in top producer Ivory Coast, though some are worried about a worsening demand outlook.

July London cocoa rose 28 pounds, or 1.5pc, to 1,955 pounds a tonne?.