Updates prices, recasts, adds details
LONDON, Nov 24 (Reuters) – Raw sugar prices on ICE fell on Wednesday as the market retreated from strong gains in the prior session but remained underpinned by worries over output prospects in top producer Brazil.
Coffee prices held near Tuesday’s 10-year highs, while London cocoa retreated from a one-month peak.
SUGAR
* March raw sugar SBc1 fell 0.9% to 19.92 cents per lb at 1601 GMT, after gaining 1.4% on Tuesday.
* Brazilian center-south mills produced 626,000 tonnes of sugar in the first half of November, 49.7% less than a year ago, according to industry group Unica. The volume was still higher than the market expected.
* Citi upgraded its average price forecast for 2022 from 19.5 cents per lb to 20.3 citing persistent market tightness through the 2022/23 crop year.
* “The increasing probability for (a) La Nina (weather phenomenon) weighs heavily on next year’s output (from Brazil). (India) exports should remain slow (versus) the past years when the export subsidy still existed,” it said.
* March white sugar LSUc1 fell 1% to $513 a tonne.
COFFEE
* March arabica coffee KCc2 rose 1.4% to $2.4540 per lb, after peaking at $2.4475 on Tuesday – its highest since October 2011.
* The market remains plagued by worries over container shipping backlogs in top producer Brazil, fears over farmer delivery defaults in Brazil and beyond, falling stocks and high fertiliser prices. KC-TOT-TOT.
* January robusta coffee LRCc2 rose 0.3% to $2,304 a tonne, having hit $2,327 on Tuesday – its highest since August 2011.
COCOA
* March London cocoa LCCc2 fell 1.7% to 1,723 pounds, having hit a one-month high of 1,758 pounds on Tuesday as sterling slumped. GBP/
* Dealers said top producers Ivory Coast and Ghana are selling at these price levels and the two countries have seen heavier-than-normal rainfall since August.
* “Global cocoa balances are shifting from surplus to deficit in 2022, but we maintain a 2022 average (price estimate) of $2,620 a tonne versus a 2021 price of $2,500,” Citi said.
* The bank sees the global cocoa deficit at 75,000-100,000 tonnes in 2021/22, but said the market is still working off the 300,000 tonnes surplus from 2020/21.
* It also cited slowing growth in China, uneven growth in Europe, and above normal rainfall in West Africa recently as factors keeping price gains in check.
* March New York cocoa CCc2 fell 2.2% to $2,511 a tonne.
(Reporting by Maytaal Angel; editing by David Evans, Elaine Hardcastle)
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