Raw sugar recovers from 3-month low; coffee, cocoa gain

LONDON: Raw sugar futures on ICE recovered on Thursday amid upbeat sentiment in the wider financial markets and after setting a three-month low in the prior session. Coffee and cocoa also rose.

SUGAR

May raw sugar rose 0.7% to 14.88 cents per lb at 1259 GMT, after setting a low of 14.67 cents on Wednesday.

Dealers said sugar price risks were to the downside with easing supply tightness, but added Wednesday's low might hold given uncertainty over the uncertainty about the upcoming Brazilian harvest.

"We forecast the global market in an 8.5 million tonne surplus in both 2020/21 and in 2021/22. In 2021/22, production will recover in the EU, Thailand and Russia among others," said Fitch Solutions.

Indian sugar mills' output rose by nearly a fifth year on year to 27.76 million tonnes in the first six months of the 2020/21 marketing year, a trade body said.

May white sugar rose 1.4% to $425.80 a tonne.

COFFEE

May arabica coffee rose 0.6% to $1.2425 per lb, having hit a 1-1/2 month low of $1.2050 on Wednesday.

Arabica remains underpinned by the prospect of less output in Brazil with the 2021/22 harvest - an off-year in the country's biennial crop cycle.

Coffee production from Brazil's Cooxupe, the world's largest coffee co-op, is seen falling by almost a third in 2021, Cooxupe said.

Coffee maker Lavazza expects revenues to rebound this year, reaching at least the levels it achieved in 2019, its CEO said.

May robusta coffee fell 0.7% to $1,333 a tonne.

Local coffee prices in top robusta producer Vietnam fell this week versus last on weak demand, dealers said.

COCOA

May New York cocoa rose 2.5% to $2,408 a tonne.

Top cocoa producer Ivory Coast said it has lowered its cocoa farmgate price by 9% to 750 CFA francs ($1.35) per kilogramme for the 2020/21 mid-crop, following poor sales caused by the coronavirus crisis.

May London cocoa rose 1.1% to 1,711 pounds per tonne.