White sugar rises as October climbs in run-up to expiry

LONDON: White sugar futures on ICE rose on Monday with the October contract showing the largest gains in the run-up to its expiry next week while London cocoa futures eased.

Raw sugar, arabica coffee and New York cocoa futures contracts were closed on Monday for the Labor Day holiday.

SUGAR

October white sugar rose $5.00, or 1.4%, to $359.50 a tonne by 1137 GMT.

Dealers said the market was regaining some ground after falling to a six-week low of $350.30 on Thursday, boosted partly by talk of a pick-up in interest in taking delivery.

The October contract is due to expire on Sep. 15.

Analyst Green Pool noted the premium of October whites to October raws had fallen sharply through most of August but had now started to climb back up.

Hedge funds and money managers increased their bullish positions in sugar, coffee and cocoa futures on ICE US in the week to Sept. 1, data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) showed on Friday.

COCOA

December London cocoa fell 9 pounds, or 0.5%, to 1,787 pounds per tonne, retreating further from last week's three-month high of 1,832 pounds.

Dealers said the market was waiting to see the extent to which consumption may rebound in the upcoming 2020/21 season after falling this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast reached 2.043 million tonnes between Oct. 1 and Aug. 31, down 5.6% from the same period last season, data from the cocoa regulator (CCC) showed on Monday.

COFFEE

November robusta coffee rose $2, or 1%, to $1,446 a tonne, underpinned partly by declining exchange stocks.

Valid exchange robusta stocks, as of Sept. 6, stood at 110,110 tonnes, down from more than 150,000 tonnes a year ago.