NEW YORK/LONDON: Cocoa futures on ICE fell on Wednesday, erasing gains made so far this month as the market consolidated further following the end of a short-covering rally, while raw sugar and coffee fell as the currency of top producer Brazil weakened.
COCOA
July New York cocoa settled down $44, or 1.9 percent, at $2,248 per tonne, after dipping to $2,234, the lowest since March 28.
This was its fourth consecutive negative finish. The contract had risen for much of April on a short-covering rally, peaking at $2,373 on April 11. But prices have come under pressure as fundamentals have come into sharper focus, dealers said.
Port arrivals in top grower Ivory Coast reached 1.803 million tonnes between Oct. 1 and April 21, exporters estimated on Tuesday, up about 14 percent year on year.
July London cocoa settled down 25 pounds, or 1.4 percent, at 1,706 pounds per tonne after touching an April 1 low of 1,695.
SUGAR
July raw sugar remained unchanged from the previous session, settling at 12.90 cents per lb, after peaking at 12.96. The market continued to trade in its recent range, encountering resistance around 13 cents and solid support below 12.50 cents.
"Once more sugar keeps trying to break out of its range and keeps failing at both extremes. The reason is that ethanol is pulling sugar up and sugar fundamentals are pulling it down," Marex Spectron analyst Robin Shaw said.
Recent strength in energy markets has prompted Brazilian cane mills to make ethanol rather than sugar but concern remains about high stocks, particularly in India and China.
Cane crush data for Center-South Brazil covering the first half of April was expected to be released this week.
A survey of analysts conducted by S&P Global Platts saw a cane crush of 16.5 million tonnes, down 26 percent year-on-year and the lowest volume for the period since 2015/16. August white sugar settled up $2.10, or 0.6 percent, at $340.30 per tonne.
COFFEE
July arabica coffee settled down 0.9 cent, or 1 percent, at 92.35 cents per lb. The Brazilian real was at its weakest against the US dollar in about four weeks, adding pressure to the raw sugar and coffee markets as a weaker real can encourage producer selling of dollar-denominated commodities.
July robusta coffee settled down $8, or 0.6 percent, at $1,391 per tonne after setting a fresh more than three-year low of $1,389.
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