LONDON: New York cocoa futures were barely changed on Friday although remained well below last week’s record high while coffee and sugar prices fell.
London-based cocoa, robusta coffee and white sugar contracts were resuming trading after the Christmas holiday.
New York-based cocoa, arabica coffee and raw sugar markets had been open on Thursday. New York cocoa futures on ICE rose a marginal 0.1% to $11,036 a metric ton by 1100 GMT. The market has fallen back sharply after setting a record high of $12,931 last week.
Dealers said there may be scope for prices to fall further in the short-term. “We believe there is an appetite for lower prices in the near term,” broker Sucden Financial said in a note looking at technical influences. The market, however, continues to be underpinned by an expected slowdown in port arrivals next month in top grower Ivory Coast which could contribute to a fourth consecutive global deficit in the 2024/25 season. London cocoa fell 2.95% to 8,865 pounds a ton as the market adjusted to reflect steep losses in the New York market on Thursday.
Raw sugar fell 0.3% to 19.21 cents per lb, drifting back down towards the prior session’s three-month low of 19.17 cents. Dealers said cane and sugar production data for Centre-South Brazil covering the first half of December was likely to be issued by industry group Unica on Friday.
Sugar production was seen sharply below the same period last year at around 330,000 to 340,000 metric tons compared with 949,000 tons a year earlier. March white sugar fell 2.2% to $506.80 a ton. Robusta coffee fell 1.4% to $4,969 a ton.
Dealers said rains were continuing to hamper the harvest in top robusta producer Vietnam. Arabica coffee futures on ICE lost 1.4% to $3.1510 per lb.
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