(Reuters) – Cocoa futures rose on Tuesday, boosted by speculative short-covering and industry buying, while raw sugar fell to its weakest level in more than a year.
COCOA
* July London cocoa rose by 36 pounds, or 2.4 percent, to 1,531 pounds a tonne by 1020 GMT.
* Dealers said the market had rebounded strongly after suffering its biggest one-day fall since 2011 on May 24.
* The decline had been fuelled by excess supplies linked to a huge crop in top grower Ivory Coast and bearish chart signals.
* “Friday’s (stronger) performance and today so far may suggest that the market has had its fill of bear news and we might enter a period of consolidation and maybe build a base,” one London dealer said.
* Dealers said the market may also have derived some support from heavy rains in Ivory Coast.
* Abundant rainfall last week in most of Ivory Coast’s main cocoa-growing regions sparked fears that flooding could hinder harvesting of what is otherwise expected to be a strong mid-crop, farmers said on Monday.
* July New York cocoa was up $55, or 2.88 percent, at $1,966 a tonne.
SUGAR
* July raw sugar fell 0.18 cents, or 1.2 percent, to 14.87 cents per lb after dipping to a low of 14.84 cents, its weakest since April 2016.
* Dealers said that bearish factors included more favourable crop weather and a recent cut in gasoline prices in top grower Brazil while monsoon rains could improve the outlook for crops in India, the world’s second-biggest producer.
* Crop-nourishing monsoon rains lashed the Kerala coast of India’s southwest on Tuesday, the India Meteorological Department said, in the earliest start to the rains since 2011.
* August white sugar fell by $3.90, or 0.89 percent, to $435.30 a tonne.
COFFEE
* July robusta coffee was down $7, or 0.35 percent, at $1,984 a tonne.
* Dealers said the market was struggling to overcome resistance around $2,000 that has stalled its recent advance.
* “If futures failed to take out $2,000 this may lead to a test of support at the 50 percent fib (Fibonacci) level at $1,956,” Sucden Financial research analyst Geordie Wilkes said in a market note.
* July arabica rose 0.4 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $1.3160 per lb.
