Raw sugar futures finished softer on Tuesday due to trade and producer sales as the bearish fundamental of excessive supplies acted as a drag on the market, brokers said. New York Board of Trade's July raw sugar contract eased 0.02 cent to conclude the open-outcry session at 9.00 cents per lb, dealing from 8.64 to 9.05 cents.
On Monday, the contract finished at 9.02 cents in the highest close since June. October sugar slid 0.12 to 9.44 cents. One contracts aside, the rest lost 0.01 to 0.06 cent. The Intercontinental Exchange's NYBOT electronic market for sugar showed the July contract down 0.04 cent at 8.98 cents at 1:26 pm.
"There has been no change in the fundamentals. A dealer for a brokerage house said, abundant stocks of the sweetener will hem in adding rallies in sugar there is still a lot of cane out there," Trade houses and industry analysts have warned that a record crop in leading producer Brazil and a similarly large cane harvest in top consumer India may eventually shove sugar prices to 8.00 cents in the weeks ahead.
Floor sources said the moving of positions out of the spot month and into the back contracts is almost done. Open interest in the July contract dove 15,669 lots to 94,473 lots as of June 18.
July goes off the board on June 29. "You still have some of the more modest positions to get out of, but the big funds are out and we should have a fairly routine delivery by the time July goes off the board," one dealer said. Technicians pegged support for July delivery at 8.74 and 8.50 cents, with resistance at 9.10 cents.
Open-outcry volume around noon was at 18,256 lots, versus the previous tally of 31,769 lots. Call volume was 13,571 lots and puts 9,024 lots. NYBOT said on Monday's screen trade were 155,494 lots and total volume 187,263 lots. Open interest in the No 11 raw sugar market jumped 12,627 lots to 689,273 lots as of June 18.
No deals were done in the ethanol market. US domestic sugar prices ended mixed. The September contract rose 0.05 cent to 21.33 cents a lb. while November gained 0.08 to 21.11 cents. The rest were flat to 0.06 cent easier. Screen volume traded on Monday in the No 14 sugar market hit 12 lots and no lots were traded in the pit. The electronic No 14 sugar market saw the September contract 0.15 cent higher at 21.43 cents at 1:27 pm.