Liffe sugar rises

Liffe August white sugar was up $20.7 or 2.7 percent to $785.70 per tonne in light volume of 748 lots on Tuesday, having earlier touched a contract high of $787.80. Liffe September robusta coffee futures were down $23 or 0.9 percent to $2,443 per tonne in slim turnover of 1,795 lots.
Liffe cocoa futures were steady, supported by pent-up physical demand for beans following Ivory Coast's resumption of trade in May. London's September contract added 20 pounds to finish at 2,023 pounds per tonne. Liffe September cocoa was up 2 pounds at 2,005 pounds per tonne in moderate volume of 4,467 lots at 1201 GMT.
"The funds are buying today. Producers are sellers," one senior London sugar futures dealer said. "The market is vulnerable to a sell-off, as market prices are beyond the reach of some end-destination (cash) buyers." The sugar market has been on tenterhooks waiting for the expected release of a new report by Unica in early July that dealers expect will revise down the forecast for cane output in the centre-south of the top sugar producer.
Dealers kept a close eye on Brazil's weather forecasts after a frost in a minor coffee-growing region caused a jump in prices last week. Brazil's Unica industry group was expected to cut its estimate of the cane crush and production in the world's top sugar grower. The report is due out next week.
"I think it (frost risk) is receding unless there's a surprise about-turn (in the weather forecast)," one dealer said. Tight supplies of robusta coffee before the next Vietnamese harvest in October, underpinned robusta futures prices. Chart-based buying also lifted the market as the September contracted soared above the 200-day moving average around $3,068 last week and then the 100-day moving around $3,152, which was the day's session low.
Vietnam is expected to export between 45,000 and 70,000 tonnes, or 750,000 and 1.17 million bags, of coffee this month, down from an estimated loading of 80,000 tonnes in June, further pushing up premium levels, traders said on Tuesday. After an excellent 2010/2011 harvest, attention is now turning to the next season, Commerzbank said in a daily report. "It is doubtful whether the weather in the main cocoa growing region West Africa will be as good as in the current season," Commerzbank said.