Adds quote, updates prices
LONDON, Dec 10 (Reuters) – Arabica coffee futures on ICE fell on Friday, extending the market’s pullback from a 10-year peak set earlier this week, while cocoa and sugar prices rose.
COFFEE
* March arabica coffee KCc2 had fallen 2.6% to $2.34 per lb by 1532 GMT. It hit a 10-year high of $2.5235 on Tuesday.
* Dealers said the run-up in prices had been fuelled partly by shipping bottlenecks which have slowed exports from key producers and if these were to ease then prices could weaken.
* “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.
* March robusta coffee LRCc2 fell 1.3% to $2,277 a tonne, after also setting a 10-year high of $2,334 on Tuesday.
* Dealers said the robusta market remained focused on the harvest in top robusta producer Vietnam which has been delayed by heavy rains.
COCOA
* March London cocoa LCCc2 rose 0.1% to 1,679 pounds 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.
* March New York cocoa CCc2 was up 0.9% at $2,472 a tonne.
SUGAR
* March raw sugar SBc1 rose 0.05% to 19.70 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.
* March white sugar LSUc1 rose 0.1% to $511.40 a tonne.
(Reporting by Nigel Hunt; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and David Clarke)
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