Robusta coffee futures rose on Tuesday in a technical rebound, while cocoa slipped on a bout of fresh selling and raw sugar steadied as the March contract inched towards expiry. May robusta coffee was up $33 or 1.57 percent at$2,133 a tonne by 1522 GMT. Dealers noted technicals offered support, with limited follow-through selling on robusta a day earlier when prices slipped 1.22 percent even as arabica tumbled 3.5 percent.
"London (robusta) just didn't follow suit," said one dealer. "It's been a very resilient market. It does have the bullish fundamentals, which arabica doesn't. So it's a market you don't want to be short of." Some of the activity on the March contract was due to the upcoming first notice day on Wednesday, with 6,181 lots in futures swapped into physical positions so far on Tuesday.
Vietnam, the world's largest robusta producer, could export an estimated 130,000 tonnes of coffee in February, up 9.2 percent from a year ago, the government said. The estimate was in line with expectations of 110,000-140,000 tonnes. Vietnam exported 140,300 tonnes in January, down 20.5 percent from a year earlier. Dealers noted the February figures signalled good flow out of the country, estimating some 350,000 to 400,000 tonnes is still awaiting export in the ports.
May arabica gained $0.55 cents, or 0.39 percent, to$1.4165 per lb. May raw sugar was up 0.03 cent or 0.16 percent at 19.18 cents a lb, after tumbling 3.3 percent in the previous session. The focus was on the expiry of the March raws contract on Tuesday, with dealers estimating deliveries of roughly 750,000 to 1 million tonnes. Last year, there were around 600,000 tonnes delivered against the March contract. INTL FCStone saw the bulk of sugar coming from Centre South Brazil, as well as some volume from North-Northeast Brazil. Smaller deliveries from Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico and Argentina were also expected.
May white sugar also rose $2.10, or 0.40 percent, to $530.30 a tonne. May New York cocoa was down $52 or 2.62 percent at $1,930 a tonne, while May London cocoa fell 34 pounds or 2.14 percent to 1,557 pounds a tonne. Dealers pointed to speculators adjusting their month-end positions, with London cocoa also pressured by fresh selling related to the March options expiry. "People are looking for substantial crops from the Ivory Coast and, technically, it seems to be attracting selling," one dealer said.
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