Raw sugar hits 8-month high, robusta highest in nearly a month

LONDON: Raw sugar futures on ICE hit an eight-month peak above 15 cents on Tuesday, with traders on tenterhooks as India, a top producer, has yet to announce its sugar export policy.

Robusta coffee hit a one-month high as a powerful typhoon approaches top producer Vietnam.

SUGAR

March raw sugar rose 0.15 cents, or 1%, to 14.92 cents per lb at 1401 GMT , having set an eight-month peak of 15.04.

Dealers expect further gains, betting that although India will probably sanction 6 million tonnes of sugar exports, the export subsidy is likely to be lower.

Sugar prices will therefore have to rise to tempt Indian traders to export rather than sell at home.

Risk aversion in the wider financial markets, as coronavirus cases surge in Europe and the United States, is limiting sugar's gains.

Mills in Brazil's center-south crushed 36.85 million tonnes of sugar cane in the first half of October, 2% less than last year, Unica said.

Mills in Brazil's center-south region are expected to produce 36 million tonnes of sugar in the 2021-22 season versus 38 million tonnes seen for the current crop, consultants Datagro said.

December white sugar rose $4.8, or 1.2%, to $401.40 a tonne.

COFFEE

January robusta coffee rose $34, or 2.6%, to $1,347 a tonne, having hit a month high of $1,350.

Vietnam is scrambling to move more than half a million people out of harm's way ahead of a powerful typhoon set to dump more heavy rain on the country, including the coffee-growing Central Highlands.

December arabica coffee rose 0.4 cents, or 0.3%, to $1.0705 per lb. The front month fell to a low of $1.0320 last week, its lowest since July 22.

Rains in top producer Brazil continue to improve soil moisture and could help next year's crop.

COCOA

March New York cocoa fell $18, or 0.7%, to $2,479 a tonne.

March London cocoa fell 17 pounds, or 1%, to 1,696 pounds per tonne.