New York sugar ends firmer

Raw sugar futures settled firmer on Wednesday on suspected short-covering tied to possible buying by a Latin American country and the sustained interest could nudge the market higher in the days ahead, brokers said. The key raw July sugar contract added 0.04 cent to end at 10.11 cents per lb, dealing from 10.04 to 10.43 cents.
Volume traded in the July contract was at 58,145 lots at 2:20 pm EDT (1820 GMT). Jack Scoville, an analyst for brokers the Price Group in Chicago, said the buying in the spread between the spot month and back months has been marked. He said the Venezuelans may be buying sugar because "their economic policy has created shortages. I do know that Brazil is not showing right now, price is just too cheap for profits or even an acceptable loss, and (the price) threatens to get cheaper." The domestic No 14 sugar market showed the July contract down 0.04 cent at 20.96 cents at 2:20 pm. Volume traded Tuesday in the No 14 sugar market hit 632 lots, the exchange said.