London white sugar futures closed higher on trade and speculative buying on the back of the raw sugar market on Monday, and traders said cash sugar business had slowed down.
Front-month December settled up $8.40 at $305.40 per tonne in volume of 1,979 lots, having traded from $305.50 to $296.50.
March concluded up $6.0 at $311.50 per tonne in volume of 1,317 lots, after moving from $312.00 to $305.00.
"It's been a day of trade and speculative buying, with overall activity quiet. The spread between December and March has narrowed to around $7 from $8.50 last week," one trader said during the afternoon.
Another trader said, "Apart from spread trades and AAs (Against Actuals - a form of hedging), there is not a lot of volume of outright buying." Cash sugar business has slowed down except for small lot routine deals and the quiet pace of trade should last for a few more weeks, brokers said on Monday.
Muslim buyers from the Middle East and North Africa are out for the holy fasting month of Ramazan, the Russians are harvesting their beet crop, the Chinese have started crushing their cane crop, and India is offering white sugar in the market, they said.
The world's top sugar buyer, Russia, will keep its raw cane sugar import tariff at $140 per tonne in November, unchanged from October, the Economy Ministry said on Monday.
COFFEE BUOYED:
Light speculative buying buoyed Liffe coffee futures on Monday but volume was thin, dealers said.
Liffe's most-active November position was $14 higher at $884 a tonne after volume of 502 lots from a total of 1,152.
The contract traded an $871-886 range, within the $846-904 price band seen since September 21.
"It's just testing the upper end of the recent range, we just seem to rattle from one end to another," a dealer said.
Buying interest was probably from small speculators betting on New York extending Friday's gains, he said.
The New York arabica market finished at a one-month high on Friday after a late burst of speculative buying.
Leading coffee growers in Mexico said on Sunday Hurricane Stan, which killed some 1,800 people in Mexico and Central America, damaged the coffee crop in Chiapas, Mexico's top growing region, but added it was too early to quantify losses.
COCOA FLAT:
London's cocoa market put in another quiet, steady performance on Monday, closing flat after mainly structural activity, dealers said.
Liffe's front-month December cocoa contract slipped two pounds to 818 pounds a tonne following volume of 1,631 lots in an 815-822 range.
Most of the 4,863 lot total volume traded on March. The second-month position finished down one pound at 838 pounds after moving 1,931 lots between 836 and 842.
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