Adds comment, updates prices
LONDON, Nov 17 (Reuters) – Arabica coffee futures on ICE climbed to their highest level in almost a decade on Wednesday, boosted by tightening supplies in major consuming markets, while sugar and cocoa prices also rose.
COFFEE
* March arabica coffee KCc2 rose 2.8% to $2.3085 per lb by 1510 GMT after peaking at $2.3485, the highest level for the benchmark second position since January 2012.
* Dealers said delays to shipments from South America as well as adverse crop weather in both Brazil and Colombia had helped to fuel the run-up in prices.
* “High freight costs and shipping delays from South America to Asia are lending a tailwind to coffee prices,” asset manager WisdomTree said in a report on Wednesday, adding excessive rains caused by La Nina had also hurt yields in Colombia, the world’s second largest producer of arabica coffee.
* Demand is also beginning to pick-up as COVID-19-related movement restrictions are gradually eased in several major consuming countries including the United States.
* January robusta coffee LRCc2 rose 1% to $2,259 a tonne.
SUGAR
* March raw sugar SBc1 rose 1.65% to 20.31 cents per lb after peaking at 20.34 cents – the highest level for the front month in more than one month.
* Dealers noted the sugar season in India was off to a strong start with the upside continuing to be capped by the potential for a pick-up in exports from the South Asian country if prices were to rise to around 20.50 cents.
* Output at Indian sugar mills from Oct. 1 to Nov. 15 rose by nearly a quarter year on year to 2.09 million tonnes as many operations started crushing earlier than usual, a trade body said on Wednesday.
* March white sugar LSUc1 rose 1.5% to $521.30 a tonne.
COCOA
* March London cocoa LCCc2 rose 0.35% to 1,708 pounds a tonne, supported partly by the prospect of a drop in production in Ghana this season.
* Ghana’s graded and sealed (G&S) cocoa arrivals stood at 42,768 tonnes by Oct. 28 since the start of this year’s harvest on Oct. 1, down from 78,078 tonnes in the same period of the previous season, data from marketing board COCOBOD showed on Wednesday.
* March New York cocoa CCc2 was up 0.9% at $2,576 a tonne.
(Reporting by Nigel Hunt; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
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