Liffe March white sugar ended $16.70 lower at $760.80 per tonne on Tuesday. Market remains nervous after last week's sharp setback with losses in crude oil and many other commodity markets adding to downward pressure. Liffe May cocoa ended 54 pounds lower at 1,975 pounds a tonne. Dealers said ample supplies were reaching the market, reducing immediate concerns over supply risks linked to the political situation in top grower Ivory Coast.
Liffe January robusta coffee ended $25 lower at $2,072 per tonne, weighed by a sharp decline in ICE arabicas. Downside in prices was limited by tight near-term supplies. Adverse weather in key producers such as Australia has helped to support values. Abundant, widespread rains have boosted soil moisture in Brazil's main centre-south cane-producing region, helping the development of the 2011/12 crop, Climatempo private forecaster said on Monday. Cocoa prices were lower as the focus remained on the smaller-than-expected impact of the political impasse in top producer Ivory Coast.
"There seems to be hedging around. Cocoa supplies have been coming through thick and fast," a senior cocoa dealer said. "You just have to look at the supply and demand fundamentals in coffee, and you know there's no way hedge funds would want to short this market right now as 2010-11 is going to be a tight year," said Kona Haque, an analyst at Macquarie Bank. "My strongest bullish call of all soft commodities is coffee," she added, referring to her outlook for prices in 2011.
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