Cocoa up, sugar down

ICE cocoa futures pared gains after tapping a 33-month high on Thursday, as buying dried up after rallying for the past two weeks, while raw sugar quietly eased to a five-week low after falling below a psychological support level. Coffee futures were little changed.
July cocoa on ICE settled up $4, or 0.1 percent, at $3,092 a tonne after peaking at $3,104, the highest for the front month since late August 2011. September cocoa on Liffe fell 3 pounds, or 0.2 percent, to end at 1,945 pounds a tonne. "I think it's getting exhausted," said one US cocoa dealer, adding that buyers moved to the sidelines after the market peaked.
ICE cocoa futures have been up for 13 of the past 15 sessions as demand for nearby cocoa butter supplies and the expectation for a 2014/15 global deficit supported prices, dealers said. "Industry is coming to market on a hand-to-mouth basis," one London-based broker said. Some dealers also referred to concerns that an El Nino weather event, which is widely forecast, will reduce cocoa production in South America and Asia after the US Climate Prediction Center forecasting a 70 percent likelihood that it will strike during the Northern Hemisphere summer.
ICE July raw sugar closed down 0.21 cent, or 1.2 percent, at 16.83 cents a lb, the lowest for the spot contract since April 29 after breaking below key support at 17 cents. Nick Penney, senior trader with Sucden Financial Sugar, said he saw nearby downside price risk to 16.80 cents a lb for ICE July, and that the lower prices could stimulate physical demand.
"We doubt if there are as many sell stops lurking as there were the last time around at this level, but also suspect that the end user buying which had previously absorbed the sell stops may not be as heavy," Penney said. Liffe August white sugar futures ended down $5.30, or 1.1 percent, at $460.10 per tonne. In coffee, July arabica futures on ICE closed down 1.05 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $1.6915 per lb.
"Some Brazilian crop numbers are coming out higher than people had envisaged," a London-based coffee futures broker said, providing a reason for the bearish tone. Robusta coffee futures on Liffe were little change with September finishing up $1, or 0.05 percent, at $1,915 a tonne. Tumbling arabica coffee prices earlier in the fiscal year forced the biggest US roaster J.M. Smucker Co to offer promotional discounts, cutting profits in its US retail and roasting business by 10 percent in the latest quarter.