NEW YORK/LONDON: Raw sugar futures on ICE fell on Thursday after hitting five-month highs in the previous session, with market participants saying expected ethanol price falls in Brazil should cap prices.

Lower ethanol prices can prompt cane mills in Brazil to produce more sugar and less of the biofuel.

SUGAR

May raw sugar ??settled down 0.04 cents, or 0.2%, at 20.06 cents per lb??, after climbing to a five-month peak of 20.51 cents on Wednesday.

“Brazil’s spot ethanol prices will likely fall from their current lofty levels as Centre-South Brazil production ramps up. And those ethanol prices will act as a fundamental anchor for the market,” said Commonwealth Bank of Australia in a note.

Sugarcane growing regions in India, the world’s No. 2 producer of the sweetener, are likely to get normal to above normal seasonal rainfall this year, the state-run weather office said.

May white sugar settled down $7.40, or 1.3%, at $568.80 a tonne.

COCOA

July London cocoa settled up 8 pounds, or 0.4%, to 1,803 pounds per tonne?.

Europe’s first-quarter cocoa grind rose 4.4% from a year earlier to 373,498 tonnes, the European Cocoa Association said.

Ivory Coast’s cocoa grind rose 6.1% year-on-year in March to 52,000 tonnes, data from exporters’ association GEPEX showed.

Dealers said the grind figures were more or less as expected.

Cocoa production in Ghana is expected to fall by at least 31% in 2021/22, industry sources said, due to extremely harsh growing conditions.

July New York cocoa ??settled up $9, or 0.3%, to $2,636 a tonne.

COFFEE

July arabica coffee settled down 1.4 cents, or 0.6%, at $2.2375 per lb, having closed down 3.6% on Wednesday.