London cocoa futures ended lower on Tuesday on fund and investor selling, while robusta coffee ended slightly higher in sympathy with higher arabica futures. White sugar traded in a narrow range and finished little changed, held back by burdensome supplies and high freight costs despite a weaker US dollar and record-high crude oil.
The massive fund buying seen earlier this year in soft commodities has slowed substantially and markets have struggled to break out of their recent trading ranges.
Fund and investor selling dragged London cocoa lower, with the main feature a narrowing premium of July to September. July's premium to September had dropped to 26 pounds by the close after climbing to 50 pounds at the end of last week. Early last week it traded below 20 pounds.
September cocoa closed down 11 pounds or 0.8 percent at 1,389 pounds per tonne in a volume of 3,648 lots. July fell 25 pounds or 1.7 percent to 1,415 pounds per tonne in a moderate volume of 6,328 lots. Cocoa arrivals in Nigeria's main port city of Lagos rose to 5,500 tonnes in April, up 37.5 percent on the same period of last year, an average of estimates by major exporters showed on Tuesday. Benchmark July closed up $18 or 0.8 percent at $2,279 per tonne in a volume of 5,420 lots.
The contract has been largely range-bound between $2,100 and $2,400 since mid-March with little sign a move in either direction was imminent. London white sugar futures closed little changed with overhead resistance stemming from abundant supplies and high freight rates. Benchmark August closed 80 cents higher at $330.00 per tonne in a moderate volume of 2,389 lots.
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