New York sugar slips

Raw sugar futures settled easier on Wednesday on sales by small speculators which pushed it back after hitting a two-week high and the market could slip further this week, brokers said.
The New York Board of Trade's May raw sugar contract slumped 0.21 cent or by 1.2 percent to close at 16.81 cents a lb, dealing from 16.70 to 17.17 cents.
On Tuesday, the contract finished at 17.02 cents in the best close for sugar on a spot basis since closing at 17.18 cents on March 7.
July fell 0.17 to 16.50 cents. One contract aside, the rest dropped from 0.01 to 0.15 cent.
"It got a pop at the start on follow-through buying from yesterday's rally, but it stalled at the top and ran out of gas. People are now talking we could go a little lower tomorrow," a long-time floor dealer said.
Fundamentally, the longer-term outlook for sugar is bullish with another deficit this season and uncertainty over how much cane Brazil will pour into producing the biofuel ethanol.
In 2005, about half of the cane in Brazil went into manufacturing ethanol following a searing rally in crude.
Futures rose at the start on speculative buying, but the advance petered out when most other investors sat on their hands due to a lack of interest in extending the market's rally to its highest level since early March, dealers said.
"We got over 17 (cents, basis May), but fell sort of flat. I think we are establishing a new range between 16.70 and that high near 17.20," one explained.
Technical analysts feel resistance in the May contract is at 17.18 and 17.50 cents, with support at 16.30 and 16 cents.
Volume before the close stood at 31,110 lots, from the previous tally of 50,780 contracts. In the options ring, call volume hit 11,902 contracts and put volume was at 5,126 lots.
Open interest in the No 11 raw sugar market climbed 3,359 lots to 462,834 lots as of March 21. The ethanol market was untraded. US domestic sugar prices ended mostly easier. The May contract shed 0.07 cent to 23.63 cents a lb. The rest of the board fell 0.04 to 0.10 cent. Volume at the end of trade stood at 604 lots, compared to the previous 1,223 lots.