Raw sugar prices ease, focus on October expiry

LONDON: Raw sugar futures on ICE were lower on Wednesday with the market's focus on the expiry of the October contract later this week while arabica coffee prices also fell after touching a two-month high in early trade.

Sugar

October raw sugar, which expires on Thursday, fell 0.05% to 18.97 cents per lb by 1210 GMT.

Dealers said a small delivery is expected with the open interest falling sharply this week.

"A delivery of that (modest) scale suggests the market is not suffering any broad indigestion in the prompt market," Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Tobin Gorey said noting the front month's discount had narrowed after peaking at more than one cent earlier this week.

December white sugar fell 0.6% to $506.70 a tonne.

The lowest price offered in an international tender to buy 50,000 tonnes of sugar from Pakistan's state trading agency Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP), which closed on Wednesday, was believed to be $692.00 a tonne c&f, European traders said in initial assessments.

Raw sugar recovers after hitting near two-month low

Coffee

December arabica coffee fell 1% to $1.9660 per lb after hitting a two-month high of $1.9945 in early trade.

Dealers noted some forecasts indicated wetter weather in Brazil, where rain is urgently needed to ensure flowering of next year's crop.

"The weather market has continued to keep coffee prices supported this month but may be showing the early signs of a shift (towards wetter weather)," Rabobank said in a report.

November robusta coffee was down 1.2% at $2,135 a tonne.

Vietnam's coffee exports in the first nine months of this year are expected to show a 4.2% drop from a year earlier to 1.2 million tonnes, government data released on Wednesday showed.

Cocoa

December New York cocoa rose 0.6% to $2,570 a tonne.

December London cocoa was 1.1% higher at 1,814 pounds a tonne