London cocoa climbs to 3-month high, sugar also up

LONDON: London cocoa futures on ICE rose to a three-month peak on Monday boosted by fund buying driven partly by bullish price charts while sugar futures were also higher.

COCOA

May London cocoa rose by 24 pounds, or 1.4%, to 1,792 pounds a tonne at 1224 GMT after rising to a peak of 1,796, a three-month peak for the benchmark second month.

Dealers said speculators had been increasing net long positions in both London and New York cocoa during the recent run-up in prices.

The upside may be capped, however, by potential excess supplies in the current 2020/21 season with the International Cocoa Organization on Friday forecasting there would be a surplus of 102,000 tonnes in the period.

May New York cocoa was up $20, or 0.8%, at $2,624 a tonne.

Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast reached 1.525 million tonnes between Oct. 1 and Feb 28, exporters estimated on Monday, down 1.3% from 1.545 million tonnes over the same period last season.

SUGAR

May raw sugar rose by 0.18 cents, or 1.1%, to 16.63 cents per lb by 1123 GMT,

Dealers were awaiting the release later on Monday of official data on the deliveries against the March contract which expired on Friday.

Traders estimated that about 890,000 tonnes of sugar would be tendered, slightly less than the 941,000 tonnes delivered against the March 2020 contract.

May white sugar rose by $7.10, or 1.6%, to $482.20 a tonne.

COFFEE

May arabica coffee fell by 0.05 cents, or 0.1%, to $1.3745 per lb.

May robusta coffee was down $8, or 0.5%, at $1,465 a tonne.

Vietnam's coffee exports in the first two months of the year likely fell 18.5% from a year earlier to 271,000 tonnes, government data on Sunday showed.