London sugar futures closed higher on trade buying on Wednesday as distant contracts recovered from producer and speculator selling earlier in the afternoon, traders said.
December settled up $3.1 at $236.1 in volume of 3,151 lots, having moved in a $236.5-233.1 range.
March ended up $1.6 at $250.6 in volume of 1,949 lots.
"People were covering physical business today," one trader said.
Another noted a lack of follow through buying in London after the New York opening, and said this had triggered selling in the more distant March and May contracts early in the afternoon.
The market later recovered on trade buying before the close, traders said. Fund selling, which featured in whites in recent days, appeared to have dried up for the time being, they said.
In fundamentals, Germany's 2004/05 season sugar production could rise to 3.8-4.0 million tonnes against 3.7 million tonnes last season, the head of sugar industry association WVZ told Reuters.
"Our current estimates are very positive," WVZ chief executive Dieter Langendorf said. "The past few weeks were highly favourable for development of sugar content in beets because it was warm and plantings had sufficient water."
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