BLBG: Sugar Rises on Bets China's Spending Plan to Spur Consumption
By Shruti Date Singh
Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Sugar prices rose for the second straight session on speculation that commodity demand will increase because of China's $586 billion spending plan to bolster its economy.
Imports of sugar by China, the biggest consumer of the sweetener after India and the European Union, fell 28 percent in the nine months ended Sept. 30 to 700,000 metric tons from a year earlier, according to the Beijing-based Customs General Administration. The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 raw materials climbed for the first time in four sessions.
Sugar gained ``in sympathy with the whole commodity complex with China announcing the stimulus package,'' said Anthony Compagnino, a partner at East Coast Options Services Inc. in New York. ``There is some euphoria in the markets. It's a macro picture.''
Raw-sugar futures for March delivery rose 0.06 cent, or 0.5 percent, to 12.07 cents a pound at 11:01 a.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. The price gained 1.2 percent on Nov. 7.
To contact the reporter on this story: Shruti Date Singh in Chicago at ssingh28@bloomberg.net.