New York sugar futures down

Raw sugar futures ended lower on Monday on speculative sales and news of the biggest delivery of the sweetener in almost a year, with bearish fundamentals seen keeping the market under the gun, brokers said.
A total of 11,892 contracts were delivered at the tape upon expiration of the July raw sugar contract last on Friday, the largest since 22,429 lots were delivered when the October raw sugar contract expired in September 2006. The New York Board of Trade's benchmark October sugar contract slid 0.28 cent to finish at 9.24 cents per lb., in a band from 9.18 to 9.56 cents.
The rest declined from 0.19 to 0.28 cent. The IntercontinentalExchange's NYBOT electronic market for sugar showed the October contract down 0.27 cent to 9.25 cents at 1:15 pm.
"It's all technical," said Marries Sonnet of commodity firm Sonnet and Co, adding speculative accounts leaned hard on the market before running into support just under the 9.20 (cents, basis October) region. Other dealers said the size of deliveries raised questions about whether the excessive supplies of sugar would be able to find homes or customers in the market.
On a fundamental level, the market is weighed by a glut due to a record cane crop in leading producer Brazil and a similarly large harvest in India, the world's top consumer. Sugar opened steady and then came under steady pressure from speculative accounts who were hoping to uncover automatic sell orders under 9.20 or 9.10 cents, dealers said.
"We got some support there, but longer-term we're looking at sugar below 9.00 (cents)," one said. Open-outcry volume around noon was at 7,332 lots, compared to the previous open-outcry tally of 12,469 lots. Call volume was 13,439 lots and puts 3,043 lots. NYBOT said on Friday's screen trade were 72,523 lots and total volume 84,992 lots. Open interest in the No 11 raw sugar market sank 7,872 lots to 648,040 lots as of June 29. The ethanol market was unthreaded.
US domestic sugar prices settled mixed. The September contract rose 0.11 to 21.60 cents per lb. while November eased 0.01 to 21.10 cents. Two contracts aside, the rest were steady. Screen volume traded on Friday in the No 14 sugar market hit 103 lots and 350 lots were traded in the pit. The electronic No 14 sugar market saw the September contract dropped 0.11 to 21.60 cents at 1:16 pm.