Liffe sugar flat, cocoa declines

Liffe August white sugar closes unchanged at $723.50 a tonne on Monday after earlier rising to a three-month high for the front month of $734.40. Market suffered minor setback following recent strong advance but remains underpinned by port congestion in Brazil and Thailand.
Liffe September cocoa ended 12 pounds lower at 1,845 pounds a tonne. Market weighed by large supplies of beans coming out of West Africa. Liffe September robusta coffee ended off $38 at $2,471 a tonne. Robusta prices still struggling to keep pace with arabicas as market fundamentals less supportive.
Sugar futures rose again, extending a recent rally, due to concerns over loading delays at Brazilian and Thai ports as analysts noted congestion in Brazil was likely to remain a feature until the harvest in the centre-south reaches its peak. Strong physical demand for sugar before Ramazan in August also underpinned prices.
"The current situation may reflect the recent tightness as a result of port logjams in Thailand and South Brazil," said Nick Penney of brokerage Sucden Financial. "Weather in Brazil has been excellent for harvesting, even if rain at times at the ports heightens the loading problems. "We will see the situation there return to normal in the near future."
Keith Flury, a senior analyst with Rabobank in London, said ample East European beet harvests could dampen prices. "There are some roadblocks (to the sugar rally), with the beet harvests in Russia and Ukraine looking pretty good." He said big beet harvests in eastern Europe could signal less demand for sugar imports and noted talk that the EU could authorise 700,000 tonnes of sugar exports later this year.
Arabica coffee futures on ICE reversed early losses as the dollar softened, but gains were capped by Brazil's harvest. Prices remained underpinned by a shortage of high quality beans, but risks of frost in Brazil appeared to be receding. "We have seen some liquidation of weather speculators," Flury said. "Now people are giving up on talk of frost in Brazil."
The weather was set to turn dry again this week in Brazil's coffee areas after showers last week, forecaster Somar predicted. ICE cocoa futures prices rose, bolstered by the weakening dollar, with upside limited by large supplies of beans coming out of West Africa, dealers said.