London robusta coffee futures finished lower on Monday, weakened by a resumption of harvesting in top robusta producer Vietnam after recent rain delays linked to Tropical Storm Hagibis.
London cocoa futures finished steady after a session marked by West African origin selling against industry buying, while white sugar settled little changed in tiny volumes as activity slowly picked up after last week's US Thanksgiving holiday.
"I think one of the things which has dented it is the passing of this storm in Vietnam. While it has chucked a lot of water about they (farmers) have now got back on with their harvesting," one dealer said.
Vietnam has resumed harvesting its coffee crop after typhoon rains ended without causing any damage, an industry official said on Monday. Dealers said the market was also weakened by some early hedge selling.
"People who were long last week on the basis of rains this week liquidated their positions when it became clear the rainfall would not be as much as feared," a second dealer said.
January ended down $27 at $1,809 a tonne while spot November fell $33 to $2,296. Dealers said the decline in the spot month partly reflected a sharp pick-up in gradings as traders seek to deliver against the front month attracted by the large nearby premium. There were 1,211 lots graded on Sunday (of which 148 were non-tenderable) and 1,176 lots on Saturday (of which 86 were non-tenderable).
"There will be more coming up over the next few days ahead of the expiry," one dealer said. The November contract expires on Friday. Kenya coffee output could fall to below 42,000 tonnes in 2007/08 following an outbreak of the Coffee Berry Disease (CBD), but could jump to 56,435 tonnes in the following year, a crop assessment said.
COCOA RANGEBOUND: London cocoa futures were hemmed in by West African producer selling against industry buying and remained rangebound throughout the session in mild volumes, dealers said.
March cocoa settled down 2 pounds to 950 pounds per tonne in reasonable volume of 3,187 lots. Dealers said March was stuck in a range between 940 and 970 pounds, with origin selling pressure overhead and industry buying underneath. "I don't see why funds/specs would go further long with all this producer selling to do," one dealer said.
Turnover slowly picked up after the lull due to the US Thanksgiving holiday at the end of last week. Dealers also referred to light rollover business in nearby months. The possibility of a breakout from the current range could depend on investment funds, but dealers doubted funds would enter the market at a time of hefty producer selling pressure from West African main crops.
Cocoa arrivals at Ivory Coast's ports remained strong last week, but for the first time this season the pace of arrivals slipped below that of last year, according to estimates by big exporters on Monday. Rains were light and sunny spells were lengthy in Ivory Coast's cocoa zones last week farmers said, giving respite to the trees after months of regular rainfall which some growers said was excessive.
London white sugar futures inched lower in light volumes, weighed by speculative selling and light rollover business, dealers said. March closed down 60 cents to $286.80 per tonne in low volume of 1,784 lots. Dealers said they expected a strong flow of Indian, Brazilian and Thai sugar exports to drag on global sugar prices in the near term.
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