Cocoa rallies on Ghana supply concerns, white sugar falls
- By: David Brough | Reuters
- May 6, 2015
- 2 min read
LONDON - Cocoa futures rallied more than 2 percent on Tuesday due to concerns over tight supplies from No. 2 grower Ghana, while white sugar adjusted lower after a public holiday during which raw sugar had tumbled 3 percent.
Arabica coffee futures firmed in choppy dealings, underpinned by a soft dollar and firmness in Brazil's currency, the real.
July New York cocoa was up $66, or 2.3 percent, at $2,941 per tonne at 1359 GMT. London July cocoa was up 31 pounds or 1.6 percent at 2,018 pounds per tonne.
"The market is up because Ghana purchases are down and the crop is worse than expected," a senior London-based broker said.
Ghana estimates its 2014/15 cocoa season output will be not more than 700,000 tonnes, down from an initial target of more than 1 million tonnes that had been revised to 850,000 tonnes, senior government sources told Reuters.
White sugar adjusted to the slide in raw sugar futures seen on Monday, when London softs markets were shut for a holiday.
Raw sugar futures edged up, with traders focused on a massive delivery tonnage received by trade house Wilmar against last week's expiry of the May raw sugar futures contract.
"The sole receiver has refining interests for some of the sugar, but the market seems to doubt that it can absorb all of it easily," said Nick Penney, a senior trader with Sucden Financial Sugar.
Traders said sugar futures prices were likely to be capped by huge stocks overhanging the market.
August white sugar futures were down $5.90 or 1.6 percent at $367.50 a tonne.
July raw sugar futures traded up 0.07 cent, or 0.6 percent, at 12.58 cents a lb.
Arabica coffee futures edged up in volatile, technically driven dealings, supported by the firmer real.
The stronger real eroded incentives to producers in top grower Brazil to sell, as it would give them lower local-currency returns from dollar-denominated coffee sales.
Traders noted that Volcafe, the Swiss-based coffee division of commodities house ED&F Man, raised its Brazil 2015 coffee crop forecast to 51.9 million bags. This is the largest forecast to date.
July arabica traded up 1.05 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $1.3395 per lb, within sight of Monday's seven-week low of $1.3155 per lb.
July robusta coffee edged up $9 or 0.5 percent to $1,781 a tonne.
Source: Reuters.com
By: David Brough
