London cocoa steadies after hitting three month low

LONDON: London cocoa futures on ICE steadied on Wednesday after hitting their lowest in three months in the prior session on signs of abundant supplies and long liquidation by speculators.

Raw sugar headed lower as crude oil prices fell, driving the energy price complex down and tempting cane mills in Brazil to produce more sugar and less ethanol, a cane-based biofuel.

Cocoa

March London cocoa edged up 0.2% to 1,693 pounds per tonne at 1100 GMT, having touched its weakest since early August at 1,684 pounds on Tuesday.

Dealers noted futures prices are in contango through to the end of the 2021/22 (Oct-Sept) crop, with nearby prices cheaper than those further out, indicating ample supply.

Global commodities trader Cargill has extended the annual grinding capacity of its cocoa processing plant in top producer Ivory Coast to 160,000 tonnes from 110,000.

Chocolate maker Mondelez raised its annual sales forecast on Tuesday as price increases and strong demand from emerging markets helped the firm beat estimates in the third quarter.

March New York cocoa rose 0.7% to $2,525 a tonne.

London cocoa hits near three month low; sugar, coffee gain

Sugar

March raw sugar fell 0.4% to 19.46 cents per lb

Dealers said the market is treading water, with macro economic factors like oil prices and the dollar dictating direction.

They added price support is building above 19 cents but there appears limited interest in pushing sugar higher than that.

December white sugar slipped 0.1% to $508.90 a tonne.

Coffee

January robusta coffee rose 0.5% to $2,246 a tonne.

December arabica coffee rose 0.6% to $2.0925 per lb.