Liffe coffee and sugar fall

Liffe July robusta coffee closed $43 lower at $2,425 a tonne on Monday after Standard & Poor's revised its ratings outlook on the United States to negative from stable. Liffe August white sugar fell $10.70 to close at $622.00 a tonne after the S&P negative outlook on the US credit rating hit investor confidence. Liffe July cocoa ended 48 pounds lower at 1,931 pounds a tonne as dealers awaited news on the situation in top producer Ivory Coast, where cocoa exports are yet to resume.
Cocoa prices closed lower in thin volume on pressure from the weak macroeconomic scene as well as expectation that exports from top grower Ivory Coast appear likely to resume in the near future after a ban of nearly three months from a bitter power struggle there was recently lifted. The US dollar pared gains against the euro and hit session lows against the yen, while gold prices hit a record, after Standard & Poor's revised its rating outlook on the US, prompting aversion for riskier asset classes including commodities. S&P affirmed the 'AAA/A-1+' sovereign credit rating of the US "People are turning negative on commodities in general, particularly as economies are slowing and US growth will be disappointing," Jonathan Kingsman, head of the Swiss-based Kingsman SA consultancy said. "It's possible that commodities generally are going off the boil."
"All risky assets would drive away a little bit of interest," said Rodrigo Costa, vice-president of Institutional Sales for Newedge USA. "That would be the reason to see coffee down, and sugar too."
July arabica hit a five-week high at $2.9310 per lb earlier in the session, flirting with last month's 34-year top for the second position at $2.9665 per lb, but fell easily on profit-taking and risk aversion, dealers said. "There's some negative macro news out there today. It certainly helps to take some chips off the table where you can," one US dealer said.
In sugar, dealers saw additional downside price risk due to expectations of ample global supplies and saw key support in ICE July raw sugar futures at 21 cents a lb. Top cocoa producer Ivory Coast was in focus as dealers awaited news after president Alassane Ouattara said last Wednesday that everything was in place for the immediate resumption of cocoa exports.
French container shipping group CMA CGM said on Monday its first ship would arrive in Ivory Coast on April 19 following the group's resumption of services to the country. "The ships are going to start to export. It's only going to help to loosen up the price a little bit, loosen up the switches. Psychologically it gives some weight to the market as well," the US dealer said.
"Volumes are terrible, so any weak selling can trigger stops," a second London-based broker said, adding people were reluctant to trade cocoa without more information on Ivory Coast. News on the state of the country's coming mid crop was also keenly awaited, traders said.