Raw sugar jumps 4pc on export news; coffee closes down

NEW YORK/LONDON: Raw sugar futures on ICE closed 4% up on Wednesday, recouping some of their recent weakness amid market talk of Indonesia preparing to announce its import license program in coming days.

Arabica coffee futures closed down and back to the lowest price levels in a month.

SUGAR

March raw sugar rose 4% to 14.97 cents per lb, extending a recovery from Monday's one-month low.

A US-based broker said there were talks that Indonesia, one of the world's largest sugar consumers, would announce this week its import license program.

Dealers said the recent recovery of the Brazilian currency, the real, has been limiting sales into New York futures by the country's mills, facilitating upward price movements in the exchange.

But the market sees sugar mostly range-bound between 14-15 cents per lb, though a downside bias remains as rains in centre-south Brazil continue to improve the supply outlook in the world's largest sugar maker.

March white sugar rose 3.15% to $409.20 a tonne.

COFFEE

March arabica coffee settled down 2.2 cents, or 1.8%, at $1.1705 per lb.

Green coffee exports by top producer Brazil grew 36% in November compared with a year earlier to 4.025 million 60-kg bags, Brazilian exporters association Cecafe said.

Rabobank said rainfall in Brazil is forecast to continue and noted that certified stocks on the ICE exchange continue to rise.

It added, however, coffee remains underpinned by a strengthening Brazilian real and by worries over the impact of recent hurricanes on central American output.

March robusta coffee settled down $11, or 0.8%, at $1,334 a tonne.

COCOA

March New York cocoa settled down $26, or 1.0%, to $2,549 a tonne.

A recent truce between top grower Ivory Coast and chocolate maker Hershey is expected to lead to a pickup in producer selling.

Dealers are also awaiting the outcome of the presidential elections in the world's second-largest cocoa producer, Ghana.

On the upside, cocoa is being underpinned by low certified stocks on the ICE exchange, dealers said.

March London cocoa settled down 20 pounds, or 1.1%, to 1,725 pounds per tonne.