LONDON: Raw sugar futures were higher on Tuesday ahead of closely watched cane crushing data for centre-south Brazil, expected later in the day. Dealers said data from Brazil cane industry group Unica was likely to show a very strong crush in the second half of April, although rains may have subsequently slowed the pace. “The report is likely to show a record crush for second half April with estimates of 35 million tonnes of cane crushed producing 1.65 million tones of sugar,” Sucden Financial senior trader Nick Penney said.
“Forecasts for this month are for more periods of rain, helping cane development but potentially slowing the pace of the harvest temporarily.” ICE July raw sugar was up 0.17 cents or 1.1 percent, at 16.05 cents a lb at 1135 GMT. Dealers said trends in Brazil’s real currency continued to influence the sugar and coffee markets. Brazil is the top producer of both commodities. The currency fell sharply on Monday before clawing back some of its losses as markets kept a close watch on impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff. A weak real is bearish for dollar-denominated prices, making exports more attractive in local currency terms.
August white sugar was up $4.40, or 1.0 percent, at $467.10 a tonne. Robusta coffee futures also rose with July up $14 or 0.9 percent at $1,649 per tonne, boosted by concerns about dry weather in key producer Vietnam and Indonesia. The benchmark second month had climbed to a six-month high of $1,665 a tonne on Monday. “In Vietnam, the most important robusta growing country, the drought is continuing, with isolated rainfall unable to provide any relief so far,” Commerzbank said.
“In Indonesia, where harvesting begins from June, it is also too dry due to the after-effects of El Nino.” July arabica coffee rose 0.90 cent or 0.7 percent to $1.2735 per lb. Cocoa futures were higher as the market continued to be underpinned by a slow start to the mid-crop harvest in top producer Ivory Coast. London July cocoa rose 19 pounds, or 0.8 percent, to 2,272 pounds a tonne and New York July cocoa climbed $34, or 1.1 percent, to $3,113 a tonne.
