Raw sugar gains 1%, robusta coffee hits to 1-1/2 month high
Raw sugar futures on ICE rose for a second session on Thursday helped by adverse weather in Brazil and India, with hopes that demand from China should improve also driving prices.
SUGAR
* March raw sugar SB1! settled up 0.2 cents, or 1.0%, at 19.68 cents per lb, after gaining 0.5% on Wednesday.
* Dealers cited concerns that weather issues in top producers Brazil and India might hit production, although they said traders are waiting for more details.
* As such, prices should consolidate at current levels with a bullish bias likely to result in a slow uptick, they said.
* Oil prices rose thanks to hopes that easing anti-COVID-19 measures in China will revive demand. Rising energy prices can prompt cane mills in Brazil to produce more ethanol at the expense of sugar.
* March white sugar SF1! rose $3.50, or 0.7%, at $540.60 a tonne.
COFFEE
* January robusta coffee RC1! ended stable at $1,918 per tonne, having hit the highest price in 6 weeks earlier at $1,935.
* Coffee output in top robusta producer Vietnam is expected to drop by a fifth in the current crop year as extended rains and lower levels of nutrition have hit the quality of beans, traders said.
* For the first 11 months of 2022, Vietnam exported 1.58 million tonnes of coffee, up 12.9% from a year earlier, Vietnam Customs said.
* March arabica coffee KC2! settled down 1.5 cents, or 0.9%, at $1.587 per lb.
COCOA
* March New York cocoa CC2! rose $50, or 2.0%, to $2,542 a tonne. The contract hit the highest price in three weeks earlier at $2,552 per tonne.
* Cocoa plantations in Africa's largest-producing countries, including the world's No. 1 exporter Ivory Coast, are estimated to have greater resilience than usual in the coming dry season, a Climate42 agricultural weather report said on Thursday.
* March London cocoa C2! rose 23 pounds, or 1.2%, to 1,978 pounds per tonne.