Recasts, changes headline, includes closing prices
NEW YORK/LONDON, Dec 1 (Reuters) – Robusta coffee futures on ICE closed more than 2% higher on Wednesday as a supply tightness continues to underpin the market for that variety.
Raw sugar futures rose earlier following higher energy prices, but ended little changed.O/R
COFFEE
* January robusta coffee LRCc1 closed 2.3% higher to $2,314 a tonne.
* Dealers said the market for robusta continues well supported due to shipping difficulties in Asia and increased demand as roasters boost use of the variety which is comparatively less expensive than arabica.
* Indonesia exported 8,811.44 tonnes of Sumatran robusta coffee beans in November from Lampung province, local trade office data showed, down 70.8% from the same month last year.
* March arabica coffee KCc2 rose 0.4% to $2.3325 per lb.
SUGAR
* March raw sugar SBc1 rose early in the session following oil higher, but lost steam and ended flat at 18.60 cents per lb.
* “Fundamentally speaking, on sugar, things tend to look more bullish rather than bearish. But not many are still paying much attention to fundamentals these days remaining hypnotised by the bloodbath that happens especially in crude oil and in the energy complex,” CovrigAnalytics said in a weekly update.
* March white sugar LSUc1 fell 0.3% to $484.20 a tonne, having hit the lowest price in 2-1/2 months earlier at $483.70.
* Sugar beet production in France is expected to reach 35 million tonnes this year in a recovery from a very poor 2020 crop, growers group CGB said.
COCOA
* March London cocoa LCCc2 rose 0.1% to 1,639 pounds a tonne after dipping to a four-month low of 1,629 pounds.
* Dealers said concerns that the latest coronavirus variant could stall a recovery in cocoa demand have put the market on the defensive.
* An expected drop in production this year, however, helped to underpin the market.
* Cocoa production in top producer Ivory Coast was down 10% from the same period last season, port arrival figures show, and farmers and buyers worry the trend could continue through the end of the main-crop harvest.
* March New York cocoa CCc2 gained $6 to $2,352 a tonne.
(Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira and Nigel Hunt; editing by Barbara Lewis, Ed Osmond and Marguerita Choy)
(([email protected]; +1 332 220 8062; Reuters Messaging: [email protected] – https://twitter.com/tx_marcelo))
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