Raw sugar climbs to 7-month high, arabica coffee also up

LONDON: Raw sugar futures closed up on Thursday after hitting a seven-month high, fueled by fund buying on news of adverse weather hurting some major producing countries.

Arabica coffee ended up for the third consecutive session, slowly recovering from a two-month low last week.

SUGAR

March raw sugar settled up 0.03 cent, or 0.2%, at 14.17 cents per lb, after reaching 14.22 cents per lb earlier in the session, the highest since March 2.

Dealers said funds continued to extend long positions against the backdrop of adverse weather in top exporter Brazil.

"The path of least resistance remains to higher prices for now. We would caution though that the reversal from those highs is potentially nasty," Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Tobin Gorey said, adding that funds may soon reach their risk capacity limit and stop buying.

"Too early, but it is being used for bullish leverage," a Chicago-based broker said, referring to market talks of potential problems for the 2021 Brazil crop due to extreme dry weather.

December white sugar settled up $1.70, or 0.4%, at $385.80 a tonne.

Dealers awaited production data from Centre-South Brazil covering the second half of September that may be issued by industry group Unica on Friday.

A survey of analysts conducted by S&P Global Platts saw sugar production for the period at 2.88 million tonnes, up 60.8%, year-on-year.

COFFEE

December arabica coffee settled up 0.65 cent, or 0.6%, at $1.1025 per lb, continuing to recover after a two-month low last week.

Dealers said dry weather in Brazil remained a concern although some showers are forecast over the next few days.

November robusta coffee settled up $5, or 0.4%, at $1,251 a tonne.

Coffee prices in Vietnam fell for the third consecutive week after a drop in London prices, while premiums in Indonesia widened to compensate for a lower benchmark price, traders said on Thursday.

COCOA

December London cocoa settled up 2 pounds, or 0.1%, to 1,712 pounds per tonne.

December New York cocoa settled up $21, or 0.9%, to $2,473 a tonne.