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NEW YORK/LONDON — Raw sugar futures on ICE fell on Wednesday, with prices remaining well below last week’s multi-year highs, while arabica coffee prices rose sharply.
SUGAR
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* March raw sugar settled down 0.16 cent, or 0.8%, at 20.16 cents per lb, reverting earlier gains in the session. The market rose to its highest in almost six years at 21.18 cents last week.
* Dealers said the outlook for India’s sugar production remained a major focus, with some talk of potential downward revisions driven by reports of a sharp decline in yields in Maharashtra.
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* March white sugar settled down $16.40, or 2.9%, at $555.70 a tonne, adjusting to losses in the New York-based raws markets on Tuesday.
COFFEE
* March arabica coffee settled up 6.4 cents, or 3.8%, at $1.7315 per lb, having hit the highest price since Nov. 7 at $1.7495/lb.
* Dealers said the market was working towards the upper end of this month’s range for the March contract of $1.5455 to $1.7435, with the downward slide since February appearing to have run out of steam.
* ICE certified coffee stocks rose to 797,755 bags on Dec. 28, a five-month peak. There were 257,153 bags pending grading.
* March robusta coffee fell $6, or 0.3%, at $1,869 a tonne, largely reflecting losses in the arabica market on Tuesday when the robusta market was shut.
COCOA
* March London cocoa settled up 8 pounds, or 0.4%, to 2,073 pounds per tonne.
* Dealers said the market was underpinned by concerns that dry weather could reduce the size of the 2022/23 mid-crop in top producer Ivory Coast.
* March New York cocoa fell $12, or 0.5%, to $2,621 a tonne. (Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira and Nigel Hunt; Editing by Louise Heavens, David Goodman and Shailesh Kuber)
