Arabica coffee slides as Brazil frost fears dissipate

30 Jul, 2019

COFFEE

* September arabica coffee was down 1.1 cents, or 1.1%, at $1.0005 per lb at 1345 GMT, after settling up 1.4% on Monday as funds covered their short positions amid talk of frost risk in Brazil.

* Brazilian forecaster Somar Meteorologia forecast frost risk in the state of Parana and in southern Minas Gerais this weekend and next week.

* "People covered (their shorts) but commercial buyers are beneath the market. It's easy to rally on short covering, but once that's completed, who's the buyer at these levels? There doesn't seem to be one," said a dealer.

* "There's oversupply, funds are shorting again, it's difficult to get constructive," he added.

* A frost scare in early July sent arabica prices to 2019 highs, but prices have since fallen as the crop damage from the frost appeared minimal and market focus returned to the bumper harvest in Brazil.

* September arabica shed 5.8% last week, its biggest weekly loss in nearly two years.

* September robusta coffee was down $7, or 0.5%, at $1,362 a tonne.

COCOA

* September New York cocoa was up $3, or 0.1%, at $2,385 a tonne, having hit its lowest since early June on Monday.

* Cocoa arrivals at ports in top producer Ivory Coast reached 2.127 million tonnes for the Oct. 1 to July 28 period, exporters estimated, up about 9% from the same period last season.

* Cocoa output in Ghana, the world's second largest producer, has reached 794,841 tonnes so far this season, or about 88% of its 900,000-tonne forecast.

* September London cocoa was up 9 pounds, or 0.5%, at 1,850 pounds a tonne, underpinned by weak sterling.

* The British pound plunged to a more than two-year low against the dollar as investors scrambled to factor in the risk of a no-deal Brexit.

SUGAR

* October raw sugar rose 13 cents, or 1.1%, to 12.21 cents per lb.

* "The market's inability to break decisively out of the recent range sums up the overall negative tone at the moment," said a dealer.

* Market participants continue to weigh signals of plentiful near-term supplies, such as massive deliveries of sugar against ICE futures contracts and large global stockpiles, against signals of a drop in future global production.

* October white sugar was up $2.4, or 0.8%, at $324.50 a tonne, having hit its highest in nearly a month on Monday.

Copyright Reuters, 2019

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