Raw sugar prices ease but remain on track for weekly gain

LONDON: Raw sugar futures on ICE eased on Friday but were set for a small weekly gain while coffee and cocoa prices edged higher.

Sugar

Raw sugar SBc1 lost 0.6% to 15.72 cents per lb by 1107 GMT, though the market was on track for a weekly gain of 0.1% after two successive weekly declines.

Dealers said recent weakness in sugar prices could encourage Brazilian mills to consider decreasing the proportion of cane used to make the sweetener. Cane can also be used to produce bioethanol.

Indonesia has halted issuance of raw sugar import permits for the rest of the year, Trade Minister Budi Santoso said on Friday, after sugarcane farmers complained about difficulties in competing with imports.

White sugar LSUc1 rose 0.3% to $489.60 a metric ton, with the focus on Monday’s expiry of the October contract.

Dealers said about 220,000 tons of sugar were expected to be delivered against the contract.

India, the world’s second-biggest sugar producer, will have sufficient surplus stocks to allow exports in the season beginning on October 1, a government official said on Friday.

Arabica coffee slips from four-month highs while cocoa gains

Coffee

Arabica coffee KCc2 rose 0.2% to $3.8680 per lb and was on track for a weekly gain of 3.5%.

“The main drivers of bullish sentiment continue to be concerns that the Brazilian coffee harvest will be smaller than initially expected and the U.S. imposition of 50% tariffs on Brazilian exports, contributing to low stocks in the U.S.,” BMI analyst said in a note.

Brazil’s coffee exports to the United States in August fell 46% from a year earlier after the Trump administration’s 50% tariff on imports from Brazil.

Robusta coffee gained 0.6% to $4,550 a ton.

Cocoa

London cocoa was up 0.8% at 5,239 pounds a ton and on track for a weekly gain of 1.8%.

New York cocoa gained 0.5% to $7,569 a ton.