Raw sugar hits 3-1/2 month top after white in technical push

PARIS: Raw sugar futures on ICE climbed to a 3-1/2 month high on Tuesday in the wake of a similar peak for white sugar in London, as a technically driven rally continued, while coffee lost more ground and cocoa also eased.

SUGAR

* March raw sugar was up 0.17 cents, or 1.3 percent, at 13.36 cents per lb by 1621 GMT, its highest since Nov. 5 and surpassing Friday's one-month high of 13.25 cents.

* US markets were closed on Monday for the Presidents Day holiday.

* May white sugar rose $1.70, or 0.5 percent, at $359.50 per tonne. It earlier hit $360.00, setting a 3-1/2 month high for the second day in a row.

* Raw sugar had been supported on Friday by technical buying linked to the expiry of options on March futures, and dealers said that momentum was continuing.

* "The upward movement is not sugar-driven, it's technical and fund-driven," one trader said, adding that rain relief in Brazil in recent days had reduced fundamental support from dry weather concerns.

* The market remained underpinned by a reduced outlook for sugar production in the key Centre-South region of Brazil but capped by the potential for extra exports, notably from India, if prices were to rise sharply, dealers said.

* Europe's largest sugar refiner Suedzucker plans to close a 50,000 tonne-a-year production plant in Poland, it said on Tuesday, part of a restructuring programme to counter a slump in the past two years.

COFFEE

* New York May arabica coffee fell 1.40 cent, or 1.4 percent, to $100.25 per lb, after earlier equalling a 2019 low of $1.060 first struck on Thursday.

* More moderate temperatures and the return of rain in Brazil is creating a positive production outlook overall, Rabobank said.

* May robusta coffee fell $18.00, or 1.2 percent, at $1,537 per tonne. as the London market also faced supply pressure.

* Vietnam, the world's top robusta producer, exported 183,693 tonnes of coffee in January, customs data showed on Monday, higher than the government's estimate of 175,000 tonnes.

COCOA

* May New York cocoa rose $20, or 0.9 percent, to $2,359 per tonne. Earlier, the contract traded touched $2,369, its highest since Jan. 18.

* May London cocoa fell 15 pounds, or 0.8 percent, at 1,763 pounds per tonne, giving up Monday's gains.

* Ghana harvested 644,319 tonnes of graded and sealed cocoa from its 2018/2019 main crop by Jan. 31, up 11 percent from the same period last season when output was hit by poor weather and disease, Cocobod marketing board figures showed.