Coffee rises; sugar steadies before Brazil crush data
Category: Sugar
(Reuters) – Coffee futures hit multi-month highs on Friday, underpinned by tight supplies, while sugar steadied before Brazilian cane industry data expected to show a vigorous crush in the second half of June.
Cocoa eased, but was supported by concerns over tight supplies in the run-up to the West African main crop harvests.
Coffee rose on roaster buying, and was underpinned by tight global robusta stocks and concerns over the quality of new crop Brazilian arabica beans.
“The strength of the arabica market is pushing the entire coffee complex,” a senior coffee trader said.
“There is talk that roasters still need to cover September positions.”
September arabica was up 1.75 cents, or 1.15 percent, at $1.5390 per lb at 1121 GMT, after touching a 16-month peak of $1.5465 per lb.
September robusta was up $14, or 0.8 percent, at $1,856 per tonne, after touching a 16-month high of $1,864.
Raw sugar futures steadied, but were pressured by a brisk cane crush in centre-south Brazil, with attention focused on the release of the latest crush data from industry group Unica at 1300 GMT.
Cane crush volumes in Brazil’s centre-south in the second half of June were expected to total 47.07 million tonnes, 0.6 percent higher than the same period last year, an S&P Global Platts survey of analysts showed.
“As the second half of June was completely dry in centre-south Brazil, with no days lost to rain and crushing activities in full swing, we expect a big crush number,” said Claudiu Covrig, an analyst at Platts Kingsman.
Dealers cited expectations of a small delivery of Latin American, mainly Brazilian, sugar against expiry of the London August white sugar futures contract on Friday.
October raw sugar on ICE was down 0.16 cent, or 0.8 percent, at 19.75 cents per lb.
October white sugar was down $4.20, or 0.8 percent, at $540.40 per tonne.
September London cocoa was down 5 pounds, or 0.2 percent, at 2,474 pounds per tonne.
September New York cocoa was down $10, or 0.3 percent, at $3,147 per tonne.
