Liffe coffee jumps

Liffe May robusta coffee ends up $59 at $2,462 a tonne on Tuesday after earlier rising to a three-year high for the second month of $2,466. Rise driven primarily by ICE arabicas which surged to a 34-year peak for a second straight day on Tuesday. Liffe May cocoa ends down 26 pounds at 2,320 pounds a tonne. Market holding just below a seven-month high set late last week supported by the escalating conflict in top producer Ivory Coast.
Liffe May white sugar rises $14.30 to close at $763.10 a tonne, underpinned by tight global supplies. Market remains choppy. Raws expected to consolidate close to the 30 cents a lb level, basis ICE May. "The overall picture in coffee is bullish ... because there's not much coffee left for sale," said Nick Gentile, head of trading for Atlantic Capital Advisors.
James Cordier, an analyst for brokers optionsellers.com in Florida, said a recovering global economy and stronger financial markets meant "that higher quality coffee won't be shunned." He said supplies of high-quality arabica coffee beans remained "extremely tight" and with top coffee producer Brazil in better financial shape, "they're able to retain coffee and wait for higher prices, and doing a great job of it."
Cocoa futures stumbled although values stayed within hailing distance of 32-year highs as the market cautiously eyed the virtual civil war in leading producer Ivory Coast. Ivorian incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo has issued a decree under which the state becomes the sole purchaser of cocoa in the world's top producing country and handles its export to world markets.
"The upward move in cocoa prices is probably more of a nervous reaction (to the news)," said Kona Haque, analyst with Macquarie Bank in London. Haque said Gbagbo's move would reassure Ivorian growers who could sell their crop to the authorities, but the impact for the export market remained unclear due to sanctions in force.
Sugar prices surged after managing to hold the lows for the day as investor short-covering stepped up in the market. Gentile said the issue confronting sugar is that supplies are still running short of demand, with the cane harvest in Brazil's prime center-south region still a few weeks away.