LONDON: Raw sugar futures on ICE fell to a seven-week low on Thursday, with the prospect of strong exports from India and weak demand in Asia helping to keep the market on the defensive.
SUGAR
October raw sugar was down 0.06 cents, or 0.5pc, at 11.73 cents per lb at 1332 GMT after dipping to a seven-week low of 11.71 cents.
Dealers said the possibility that India could export up to 8 million tonnes of sugar remained a key bearish influence.
"This would be more than enough to compensate for the expected decline in production in other regions. It is thus questionable whether the market will be able to easily absorb this additional quantity," Commerzbank said in a market note.
The tendering of Thai sugar against the August whites contract that expired this week has also heightened concerns about weak demand in Asia.
October white sugar was up $1.90, or 0.6pc, at $314.20 a tonne.
Suedzucker, Europe's largest sugar refiner, on Thursday said that trading conditions remained intensely difficult, with low sugar prices and no turnaround likely for the company's current financial year.
COCOA
September New York cocoa was up $28, or 1.2pc, at $2,451 tonne.
Dealers said the market was underpinned by the potential for a drop in production in Ghana this season because of swollen shoot disease.
Ghana's Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC) has postponed about 50,000 tonnes of cocoa export contracts that it will not be able to execute from the current crop, sources at Ghana's marketing board Cocobod said on Wednesday.
September London cocoa rose 12 pounds, or 0.65pc, to 1,848 pounds a tonne, though a stronger pound helped to limit gains.
COFFEE
September arabica coffee was up 0.25 cents, or 0.2pc, at $1.0765 per lb.
September robusta coffee rose $3, or 0.2pc, to $1,426 a tonne.
Vietnam's domestic coffee prices were unchanged on Thursday from a week earlier, while the Indonesian premium narrowed slightly on abundant supplies.
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