Liffe August white sugar closes $5.60 higher at $612.60 a tonne on Tuesday. Delays to shipments from Brazil caused by port congestion has helped to widen the nearby premium. Liffe September cocoa ends 13 pounds lower at 1,880 pounds a tonne. A pick-up in the pace of exports from top producer Ivory Coast keeping the market on the defensive. Liffe July robusta coffee ended $19 higher at $2,292 a tonne, boosted by renewed strength in arabica market.
Sugar futures were underpinned, however, by a shortage of Brazilian supply for nearby shipment. Dealers focused on delays of several weeks to load new-crop sugar at some Brazilian ports, particularly the Cargill/TEAG terminal at Santos. "People can't rely on some terminals to give them a prompt load," said James Kirkup, head of sugar brokerage at ABN Amro Markets (UK) Limited.
"It makes sugar that is afloat - that has completed loading - more valuable. This (congestion) isn't going to affect the amount of sugar that is coming out of Brazil, but it will affect the timing of the sugar coming out of Brazil." Nick Penney of brokerage Sucden Financial said, "Worries about lengthy vessel line-ups at Brazilian ports, and producers claiming that sugar will be slow to emerge due to concentration on ethanol production out of the cane harvested so far, are still rife." Arabica coffee futures rose, consolidating after having lost over 10 percent of their value since hitting a 34-year peak of $3.0890 a lb on May 3.
"All commodities were hit, the CRB is down, coffee's been hit with the tide of selling. New York is due a bounce," a London-based broker said. The 19-commodity Reuters-Jefferies CRB index settled half a percent lower on Monday, continuing an erratic pattern over the last two weeks that saw prices rebound one day only to fall the next. World 2012/13 coffee output is expected to rise almost 8 percent to around 140 million 60-kg bags due to an on-year in top producer Brazil's biennial production cycle, the International Coffee Organisation said on Tuesday.
Cocoa futures were lower as dealers monitored the resumption of exports from top producer Ivory Coast. "Cocoa's story has gone from being very bullish to very bearish," a London-based broker said. The backlog of exports from the world's top producer is expected to keep downward pressure on prices in the coming months. Cocoa purchases declared by private buyers to Ghana's Cocobod industry regulator hit 846,385 tonnes by May 5 since the start of the season in October, data from industry regulator Cocobod showed on Tuesday.