(Nasdaq) – Sugar prices ended higher for the first time in four sessions on the back of a report by Platts Kingsman that estimated demand for sugar will outstrip production this year by a larger margin than previously forecast.
Raw-sugar futures for March delivery rose 0.6% to end at 14.59 cents a pound on the ICE Futures U.S. exchange after rising to as high as 14.95 cents a pound earlier in the session.
Rain has delayed harvests in Brazil and the sugar content of the cane has disappointed, the firm said. For the rest of the season, the firm said it expects much of the cane crushed to go toward ethanol production [somewhere between 70% and 90%].
“The amount of the production deficit ranges as high as 6.5 million tons, but some important estimates are for a deficit half that size or less. Either way, the deficit represents a change in the market, and it is just a matter of degree,” Jack Scoville, vice president of Price Futures Group in Chicago, said in a note.
Frozen concentrated orange juice futures for January closed down 1.8% to $1.47 a pound, cocoa for March dropped 1.1% to close at $3,338 a ton, March cotton slumped 0.1% to close at 63.31 cents a pound and arabica coffee for March ended flat at $1.1990 a pound.
