Cocoa Gains in London as Pound Nears Six-Week Low; Sugar Falls

May 22nd, 2013

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Category: Cocoa, Sugar

(Businessweek) – Cocoa rebounded as a weakening pound helped the futures traded in London, while the dollar-denominated beans traded in New York advanced at a slower pace. Sugar retreated.

The pound fell toward a six-week low against the dollar after a report showed U.K. inflation slowed more in April than economists forecast. Consumer prices climbed 2.4 percent from a year earlier, compared with 2.8 percent in March, the Office for National Statistics said in London. The median forecast of 35 economists in a Bloomberg News survey was 2.6 percent. The pound fell 0.5 percent to $1.5179, after sliding to as low as $1.5158 on May 17, the lowest since April 4.

“London cocoa is gaining some support from a weakening pound, but volumes are very light so far,” Jerome Jourquin, head of agricultural commodity derivatives at brokerage Aurel BGC in Paris, said by e-mail today. “There is some support from the industry also, but it’s also not that big.”

Cocoa for delivery in July gained 0.6 percent to 1,547 pounds ($2,348) a ton by 11:06 a.m. on NYSE Liffe in London. It fell 0.7 percent yesterday. Cocoa for July delivery gained 0.1 percent to $2,303 a ton on ICE Futures U.S. in New York.

Sterling dropped versus all except one of its 16 major counterparts before the Bank of England releases minutes of it May 8-9 meeting tomorrow, which will reveal how many policy makers voted to boost asset purchases that tend to weaken a currency. A weaker pound makes sales of the commodity cheaper.

Ghana

Cocoa purchases in Ghana, the world’s second-biggest producer, fell 9.9 percent from the start of the season through to May 9, according to data on KnowledgeCharts, a unit of Commodities Risk Analysis in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Purchases, an indication of output, totaled 679,000 tons, down from 754,000 tons a year earlier. The gap in purchases droppped from 14 percent in the Oct. 1 to April 18 period.

Robusta coffee futures for July delivery rose 0.1 percent to $2,007 a ton in London. Arabica coffee futures for July delivery was little changed at $1.352 a pound in New York.

White, or refined, sugar for delivery in August was down 0.1 percent to $474 a ton on NYSE Liffe. Earlier, the price fell to as low as $472.20 a ton, the lowest since July 2010. Raw sugar for delivery in July declined 0.1 percent to 16.80 cents a pound on ICE.

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