Cocoa futures tumbled to close down nearly 4 percent on Thursday, after falling below their 100-day moving averages and triggering automatic sell orders as the commodity complex turned lower. ICE raw sugar futures turned lower after touching their highest in nearly 4 months, with the front-month's premium remaining roughly 1 cent per lb over the second month, while the market expected a big delivery at expiry of the front-month contact on February 29.
Liffe robusta coffee soared, providing some spillover support to arabica futures on ICE. The Thomson Reuters-Jefferies CRB index, made up of 19 commodities, climbed to a four-month high but then turned lower as forecasts showed the euro zone economy shrinking this year, adding concern about the outlook for world growth. Cocoa futures on ICE climbed to a four-week high but then sank, with benchmark May closing down $94, or 3.9 percent, at $2,344 a tonne, after dropping to a session low at $2,307, a fall of 5.4 percent.
London May cocoa finished down 59 pounds, or 3.7 percent, at 1,519 pounds per tonne. Both markets saw chart-based selling, as they fell below their 100-day moving averages and attracted flurries of sell-stops, dealers said.
March raw sugar on ICE initially saw follow-through strength after climbing above its 200-day moving average earlier this week, but turned lower on the heels of the falling US crude market. Both markets were choppy throughout the session, and by 1:01 pm EST (1801 GMT), the March sugar was down 0.1 cent at 25.66 cents a lb, failing to follow crude back up late in the session. Earlier, the sweetener touched the highest since October 28 at 26.23 cents.
"As the spread widens, we expect more sugar to be delivered. We expect that at current values, with a front-month spread of 1.14 cents, there could be up to a million tonnes delivered," said Peter De Klerk, an analyst with commodities house Czarnikow. New York raw sugar March futures could rise to 26 US cents a pound, a level last seen in November, before expiring, but then it is likely to slip again because of supply from Brazil, Thailand and India, a senior analyst at INTL FCStone said.
London May white sugar futures climbed $2.90 to settle at $652.20 per tonne. Robusta coffee futures on Liffe jumped, supported by the weak US dollar, with May closing up $68, or 3.5 percent, at $2,018 a tonne. March closed on par with May with diminished concern about potential tightness in available deliverable supplies. Arabica coffee futures on ICE rose, buoyed by the weaker dollar and on spillover support from robustas, with upside limited by expectations of a large crop in Brazil. May arabica coffee rose 1.75 cents to $2.0360 per lb.