August white sugar ended $10.30 higher at $496.60 per tonne on Monday. Market bounced back after sharp setback on Friday buoyed by strong physical demand for whites as traders digested news of a purchase by Pakistan over the weekend. July cocoa on Liffe ended 9 pounds lower at 2,191 pounds a tonne. Market suffered modest setback after Friday's sharp advance but underpinned by last week's supportive first quarter grind data from North America and Europe.
July robusta coffee settled off $29 at $1,353 a tonne. Market finally beginning to come under pressure after holding up comparatively well during the recent slide on ICE arabicas. In early trade, sugar futures on ICE rose on investor and fund buying on Monday, recovering from Friday's 5.3 percent drop on falling risk appetite as investors fretted over broader fallout from fraud charges against Goldman Sachs.
Wall Street's dominant bank was charged with fraud by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday over its marketing of a subprime mortgage product. Subprime mortgages were blamed for sparking the crippling 2008 recession.
Referring to the rise of sugar futures, Jake Weatherall, a soft commodities trader with Rabobank, said: "I think it (rise) is more of a reaction to dropping so much on Friday." Dealers referred to investor and fund buying targeting 17.00 cents for the July raws contract.
"There was hedge fund and spec buying in July," a London sugar futures dealer said. "It hit some stops at 16.50 and at 16.80 but failed to reach 17.00." Sugar dealers focused on expectations of an increasing whites-over-raws premium, and on weekend offtake, taking stock of a Pakistani purchase of 75,000 tonnes of white sugar at $591.00 per tonne, cost and freight, in a tender opened on Saturday.
Strong physical demand for white sugar amid tight availability of whites, is underpinning the whites-over-raws premium, dealers said. Traders also awaited news on an expected recalculation of the sugar import duty in Russia, the no. 3 raw sugar importer. Dealers said they had priced into the market a lower Russian import duty in May, and that ship owners were raising prompt fixture charges in response to high demand for shipments to the Black Sea.
A weaker pound helped underpin sterling-denominated Liffe cocoa futures. "It's partially profit-taking and long liquidation on stops," said a London cocoa futures dealer. Cocoa was underpinned by stronger-than-expected first quarter North American grind data, a key measure of demand.
North American cocoa grindings in the first quarter of 2010 rose 16.17 percent from 2009, above expectations and marking the first increase since 2008, data from the National Confectioners Association (NCA) showed on Thursday. The results were above the wide range of estimates that pegged the grind would rise 3 to 12 percent.
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