BLBG:Sugar Falls to Five-Month Low as India Permits More Exports; Cocoa Climbs Q
Sugar futures fell to a five-month low after India, the world’s second-largest producer, approved an increase in exports. Cocoa rebounded from a 30-month low, while coffee was little changed.
India will export an additional 1 million metric tons, boosting annual shipments to a four-year high. Raw-sugar prices have tumbled 35 percent from a 30-year high of 36.08 cents a pound on Feb. 2.
“The news that India was allowing exports came earlier than the market was expecting,” Juliano Ferreira, a researcher at ICAP do Brasil CTVM, said in an e-mail. “Buying from China and Egypt had been supporting the market.”
Raw sugar for March delivery dropped 2.7 percent to settle at 23.44 cents at 2 p.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. Earlier, the price touched 23.33 cents, the lowest for a most- active contract since June 8.
The global surplus will be 4.4 million tons in the season that started last month, up from 840,000 tons a year earlier, Societe Generale has estimated.
Slack demand and abundant supplies may keep the market from building “any risk premium for a while,” Michael McDougall, a senior vice president at Newedge Group in New York, said in a report.
Brazil is the world’s biggest producer and exporter.
Cocoa futures for March delivery rose 0.3 percent to $2,421 a ton in New York. Earlier, the price touched $2,395, the lowest since May 2009. The commodity has dropped 36 percent from a 32- year high of $3,775 on March 4.
Arabica-coffee futures for March delivery fell less than 0.1 percent to $2.369 a pound. The price has dropped 23 percent from a 14-year high of $3.089 on May 3.
In London futures trading, refined sugar and cocoa dropped, while robusta coffee advanced on NYSE Liffe.
To contact the reporters on this story: Isis Almeida in London at ialmeida3@bloomberg.net; Marvin G. Perez in New York at mperez71@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net
