New York cocoa futures on ICE sharply extended the prior session's losses by more than 5 percent on Friday, reaching a contract low as abundant global supplies and speculative selling pressured prices. London cocoa, robusta coffee and white sugar contracts will not reopen until December 27 due to holiday closings. New York cocoa, arabica coffee and raw sugar will reopen on December 26 after the Christmas holiday.
New York March cocoa settled down $98, or 5.1 percent, at $1,809 per tonne, having reached a contract low at $1,807. The spot contract closed the week lower for the sixth straight week. London March cocoa settled down 28 pounds, or 2 percent, at 1,379 pounds per tonne after an abbreviated trading session, having hit a contract low of 1,376 pounds. Focus was on ample global supplies partly due to higher-than-expected arrivals at ports in Ivory Coast this season.
"You are going to have another big (global) surplus (in 2017-18) on the tail of a huge surplus the previous year," the dealer added. Persistent bearish sentiment from speculators also pressured prices, with dealers noting the weekly Commitment of Traders data, expected later on Friday, was likely to show an increase in their net short position.
March raw sugar settled 0.17 cent lower, or down 1.2 percent, at 14.6 cents per lb. The spot contract closed the week up 6.9 percent, its strongest weekly performance in a year. This took prices of Thursday's two-week high, with dealers pointing to selling by Brazilian producers lured by a weaker Brazilian currency
"The producers have no doubt also taken advantage and we suspect selling will get heavier if we break 15 cents," Nick Penney, senior trader at Sucden Financial, said in a note to clients. March white sugar settled down $1.40, or 0.4 percent, at $385.50 per tonne.
March arabica coffee settled down 1.85 cents, or 1.5 percent, at $1.204 per lb. The spot contract closed the week up 3 percent, its strongest weekly gain since September. "Reports of generally good growing conditions at this time in Brazil provided the best reasons to sell. The funds and other speculators were buying to cover shorts before end of the year, but others were selling on ideas that even lower prices are coming soon," said Jack Scoville, vice president of Price Futures Group in Chicago. March robusta coffee settled up $7, or 0.4 percent, at $1,712 per tonne.
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