Markets

Raw sugar prices boosted by low sugar mix in Brazil

Published Updated

SUGAR

* March raw sugar rose 0.13 cents, or 1.0 percent, to 12.86 cents per lb by 1449 GMT after earlier climbing to a peak of 13.16 cents.

* Dealers said cane and sugar production data for Centre-South Brazil issued by cane industry group UNICA was seen as constructive.

* The data, for the second half of October, showed just 30.2 percent of the cane had been used to make sugar rather than ethanol. An S&P Platts survey of analysts forecast the mix at 30.51 percent.

* "I think people are carrying that (the lower sugar mix) forward for the next couple of months and have lost a bit of sugar from their forecasts," one dealer said.

* Dealers said the market overall appeared rangebound, partly reflecting the current largely neutral stance of investment funds.

* "They (funds) are not really giving it any direction," one dealer said.

* Speculators switched back to a net short position in raw sugar on ICE Futures US in the week to Nov. 6, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday.

* December white sugar, which expires on Thursday, was down $2.10, or 0.6 percent, at $342.00 a tonne

COFFEE

* March arabica coffee was down 2.80 cents, or 2.4 percent, at $1.1470 per lb.

* Dealers said the market was weighed partly by a weakening in Brazil's real currency. A weaker real weighs on prices because it increases local currency returns on dollar-traded commodities, encouraging Brazilian producers to sell.

* January robusta coffee was down $17, or 1.0 percent, at $1,668 a tonne.

* Dealers said the harvest in top robusta producer Vietnam was gathering pace, helping to keep the market on the defensive.

COCOA

* March New York cocoa fell $2, or 0.1 percent, to$2,285 a tonne.

* Dealers said the market was consolidating after a sharp retreat from last week's 3-1/2 month peak of $2,410.

* They noted the outlook for crops in West Africa remained generally favourable.

* Sunny spells in most of Ivory Coast last week were expected to boost the main cocoa crop in the world's top producer, farmers said on Monday.

* March London cocoa fell 12 pounds, or 0.7 percent, to 1,658 pounds a tonne.

Copyright Reuters, 2018