Raw sugar hits multi-week low ahead of contract expiry

LONDON: Raw sugar prices on ICE hit their lowest in seven-and-a-half weeks on Monday, with heavy pressure on the front-month contract ahead of its expiry on Tuesday.

SUGAR

* May raw sugar eased by 0.7 percent to 12.17 cents per lb by 1135 GMT after trading as low as 12.08 cents, its weakest since March 7.

* The May contract traded as much as 0.4 cents below the July contract.

* "May-July has weakened a lot. I guess someone doesn't want the sugar. There's rumours of some low-quality stuff out there (heading for delivery)," one dealer said, adding that buyers will return if prices fall much further.

* Sugar has largely been stuck in the 12.50-13 cents trading range since the beginning of March.

* Speculators reduced their net short position in raw sugar on ICE Futures US in the week to April 23 to its smallest in about eight weeks, US government data showed.

* The US data suggests that funds have little appetite to increase their net shorts for now, with some even happy to go long, dealers said.

* August white sugar fell 2 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $338 a tonne.

COCOA

* July London cocoa rose 12 pounds, or 0.7 percent, to 1,775 pounds a tonne after peaking at 1,777 pounds, its highest since April 18.

* July New York cocoa rose $13, or 0.6 percent, to $2,348 a tonne after touching $2,350, the highest since April 23.

* Speculators increased their net short position in ICE cocoa by 899 contracts to 28,328 contracts in the week to April 23. In late March they held their largest short in eight months, helping to prompt a short-covering rally.

* Despite the recent short-covering, the market's upside potential is limited by ample supply.

COFFEE

* July arabica coffee rose 0.7 cents, or 0.7 percent, to 93.40 cents per lb.

* The contract rose 1.3 percent last week after three straight weeks of declines.

* Speculators reduced their bearish stance in ICE arabica coffee by 3,221 lots to 75,846 lots in the week to April 23. .

* Although prices have steadied since plunging to more than 13-year lows, a massive harvest in Brazil continues to weigh on coffee.

* July robusta coffee fell $2, or 0.1 percent, to $1,408 a tonne after dropping to a more than three-year low last week.

* Vietnam's coffee exports in the first four months of this year are expected to fall 13.5 percent to 629,000 tonnes. Vietnam is the world's largest robusta producer.