Updates with closing prices, adds comments
NEW YORK/LONDON, Dec 10 (Reuters) – Arabica coffee futures on ICE closed more than 3% down on Friday to a week-low, extending the market’s pullback from a 10-year peak set earlier this week, while cocoa prices rose.
COFFEE
* March arabica coffee KCc2 closed 3.1% down at $2.3260 per lb. It hit a 10-year high of $2.5235 on Tuesday.
* Dealers said profit-taking by speculators hit the market after this week’s run-up in prices that had been fuelled partly by shipping bottlenecks.
* Some analysts believe prices could weaken if logistics issues ease.
* “As we go into 2022, we expect supply chain issues to gradually improve which should put less upward pressure on the coffee market,” ING said in a report on Friday, forecasting an average price of $1.95 per lb in 2022.
* Brazilian coffee exports fell 41% in November, exporters association Cecafe said, due to shipping hurdles and the smaller 2021 crop.
* March robusta coffee LRCc2 fell 0.6% to $2,291 a tonne, after also setting a 10-year high of $2,334 on Tuesday.
COCOA
* March New York cocoa CCc2 closed 0.6% up at $2,466 a tonne.
* Dealers said the new coronavirus variant has led to some concerns about whether demand would continue to recover although there remained some optimism about the outlook for prices.
* “We think the growth in demand will outpace that of supply,” Fitch Solutions said in a note, forecasting an average price of 1,775 pounds in 2022 for the London cocoa futures.
* March London cocoa LCCc2 lost 0.4% to 1,670 pounds a tonne.
SUGAR
* March raw sugar SBc1 was little changed at 19.71 cents per lb.
* Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Tobin Gorey said mills in Brazil, some of which can switch between using cane to make biofuel ethanol or sugar, had hedged a smaller proportion of production than at the same stage a year ago.
* “The lower hedge level is in part a sign that Brazil’s mills are reluctant to commit to sugar over ethanol yet,” he said in a market update, as energy prices remain high and the outlook for fuel prices next year is positive.
* March white sugar LSUc1 rose 0.13% to $511.40 a tonne.
(Reporting by Nigel Hunt; Editing by Kirsten Donovan, David Clarke and Ramakrishnan M.)
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