Coffee and sugar down

Arabica coffee futures on ICE were lower on Friday but the scope for further losses appeared limited while forecasts indicate further dry weather in top grower Brazil. Raw sugar futures saw further weakness in the October contract ahead of its expiry at the end of this month, with near-term supplies more than ample and demand sluggish, while cocoa prices were also lower.
December arabica coffee was down 1.00 cent or 0.5 percent at $2.0145 per lb by 1348 GMT. "In three days time if you are still getting long range forecasts saying we don't see any rainfall until at least the last week in September you are going to see further strength in the arabica market," said analyst Andrea Thompson, head of research and analysis at CoffeeNetwork, part of INTL FCStone. "While timely rainfall will not reverse any of the damage we have seen, what will happen is the potential losses will increase over time without rain," she added. Volcafe on Friday raised slightly its forecast for Brazil's 2014/15 crop but said it was the outlook for production in 2015/16 which was keeping prices elevated.
"While it is too early to attempt a 2015 forecast, it is clear that the condition of the coffee trees in Brazil just ahead of the main flowering is poor," Volcafe said. November robusta coffee futures on Liffe were up $7 or 0.3 percent at $2,098 a tonne. "The gains for robusta are being capped by prospects for another large crop in Vietnam and we also have the rising certified stock levels," Thompson said.
Liffe robusta certified stocks were 87,100 tonnes as of September 1 following a sharp rise in recent weeks and are 13 percent above the year ago total of 77,030 tonnes. Stocks in mid-April had been as low as 13,860 tonnes. Volcafe put the 2014/15 Vietnam robusta crop at 28.5 million bags, down slightly from the prior season's 30.0 million. Raw sugar futures on ICE showed further weakness in nearby contracts due to plentiful near-term availability at the height of the harvest in Brazil, combined with sizeable stocks in Thailand and China.
ICE October raws were off 0.12 cents or 0.8 percent at 15.01 cents a lb after earlier falling to a seven-month low of 15.00 cents. Liffe October whites were $0.60 or 0.1 percent lower at $417.00 a tonne. Cocoa futures on ICE were lower, weakened partly by talk that top grower Ivory Coast may still have significant volumes of mid-crop beans to sell. ICE December cocoa fell $25 or 0.8 percent to $3,106 a tonne. The contract climbed to $3,300 last week, the highest level for the second month since May 2011. Liffe December cocoa futures eased 11 pounds to 1,983 pounds a tonne.