(Reuters) – Sugar futures on ICE slipped on Tuesday, pressured by a deteriorating chart structure and signs of ample global supply ahead, while a stronger British pound pushed London cocoa lower.
SUGAR
* October white sugar was down $6.80, or 1.80 percent, at $370.20 a tonne by 1054 GMT.
* Open interest in the spot contract declined by a sizeable 6,206 lots to 14,884 lots as of Sept. 11 ahead of the contract’s expiry on Friday.
* Dealers said the market continued to be pressured by expectations of ample global supplies as the European Union inches closer to ending production quotas in October.
* “Unusual EU supply is ramping up to displace Brazilian raws destined for refiners – here is where the supply fumble might occur,” said Tobin Gorey of Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
* October raw sugar fell 0.15 cents, or 1.1 percent, to 14.14 cents per lb.
* Prices rose a day earlier, boosted by technical buying and worries about damage to Cuba’s cane crop and processing facilities by Hurricane Irma.
* But dealers said a lack of follow-through buying had weakened the technical picture.
* The market was also awaiting cane crush data from Brazil’s Unica for the second half of August, due to be released at 1300 GMT on Tuesday.
* An S&P Global Platts survey of analysts forecast a crush of 41.95 million tonnes, up 8.7 percent on the year. Brazilian mills are expected to have allocated 48.1 percent of the cane to sugar, producing 2.823 million tonnes of the sweetener.
COCOA
* December London cocoa was down 10 pounds, or 0.7 percent, at 1,466 pounds a tonne.
* Prices were hurt by the British pound which hit highs against the euro and U.S. dollar.
* As the September contract inches towards expiry on Thursday, open interest remains sizeable at 22,425 lots, with dealers closely monitoring the drawdown for indications of demand.
* December New York cocoa rose a marginal $2, or 0.1 percent, to $1,936 a tonne.
* The market was also monitoring crop development in top grower Ivory Coast, where scattered rain and average sun last week is expected to boost growth of the main crop though black pod disease is spreading in some areas due to cloudy weather.
COFFEE
* November robusta coffee dropped $11, or 0.6 percent, to $1,940 a tonne.
* December arabica coffee fell 0.95 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $1.3090 per lb.
