(Businessweek) – Sugar declined in New York for the first time in four days before industry group Unica reports on the crop progress in Brazil, the world’s largest producer. Cocoa climbed the most in three weeks.
Unica will provide an update on how much sugar cane was turned into ethanol and into sweetener in the first half of June. Sugar prices have climbed 4.1 percent the past three days on speculation rain would slow progress in Brazil.
“Since prices went up too far, the numbers from Unica would be played down,” Naim Beydoun, a broker at Rolle, Switzerland-based Swiss Sugar Brokers, said in an e-mail message today. “The market now is more a factor of funds short covering versus producer pricing as a function of the currency rate.”
Raw sugar for October delivery fell 0.5 percent to 17.25 cents a pound by 8:07 a.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. Cocoa gained 1.4 percent to $2,193 a metric ton, the biggest jump since June 6. “A bit of industry buying was seen here and there,” Marex Spectron Group Ltd. said in a report about yesterday when prices in London rose 0.5 percent.
Arabica coffee dropped 0.1 percent to $1.2045 a pound.
