Raw sugar tumbles

Raw sugar futures on ICE fell for a third straight day on Friday, hitting their lowest in 11 months due to abundant supplies, while arabica coffee climbed above this week's 18-month low. Robusta coffee futures on Liffe made their biggest jump in nearly four weeks, losing momentum around a key technical level, while cocoa climbed quietly, shrugging off lower North American grind data.
Raw sugar climbed early on short-covering but turned lower when that dried up, becoming the session's weakest performer on the Thomson Reuters-Jefferies CRB index. Technically, the market is weak, having dropped below the 100-day moving average late last week, and consequently registering five lower sessions out of the past six. "There is still some liquidation to go in terms of the spec longs," a veteran dealer in New York said.
Dealers anticipate a big global surplus of the sweetener this year. July raw sugar on ICE fell 0.22 cent or 1 percent to close at 21.55 cents a lb, the weakest settlement for the second position since May 2011. "Technically the market looks weak," said James Kirkup, head of sugar brokerage at ABN Amro Markets.
Nick Penney of brokerage Sucden Financial said the market was focusing on crop progress in Thailand, India and Russia. Consultancy Kingsman SA trimmed its forecast for 2012/13 cane output in centre-south Brazil to 510 million tonnes, from a previous forecast of 520 million tonnes estimated in January. London August white sugar futures dropped $7.70, or 1.3 percent, to close at $574.90 per tonne.
July arabicas on ICE rose 3.30 cents, or 1.9 percent, to finish at $1.7895 per lb, above Monday's 18-month low, basis second month, of $1.7390 per lb. The modest rally could be due to "reports in the last few days of Colombia's coffee crop being lower than had been expected", CoffeeNetwork analyst Andrea Thompson said.
Robusta coffee futures posted their biggest one-day surge since late March, but gains lost momentum near the 200-day moving average around $2,062 per tonne, basis July. Benchmark Liffe July robusta coffee futures jumped $33, or 1.6 percent, to settle at $2,056 per tonne, having been up 2.3 percent at a session high of $2,070. July cocoa on ICE finished up $35, or 1.6 percent, at $2,269 per tonne. July cocoa on Liffe gained 26 pounds, or 1.8 percent, to settle at 1,491 pounds.