Raw sugar futures on ICE steadied in thin pre-holiday dealings on Tuesday as traders took stock of Brazilian cane crush data, which was broadly in line with expectations. Cocoa dipped, trading near six-week lows on technically driven selling, while coffee edged higher on light speculative buying.
Raw sugar futures failed to react to Brazilian Unica cane industry data showing a crush of 18 million tonnes in the first half of December compared with 18.74 million tonnes in the second half of November. "The data was not likely to have much impact because it is late in the crush and volumes are low ahead of the holidays," a senior European trade source said, adding that the consensus trade forecast for the crush in the first half of December was 17.5 million to 18.5 million tonnes.
Brokers and traders had predicted some disruption to the cane crush in centre-south Brazil due to rainfall. Trade sources estimated that about a third of mills were still crushing cane in centre-south Brazil. In a typical year, less than a tenth of mills would still be crushing in late December.
March raw sugar futures on ICE rose 0.05 cent, or 0.3 percent, to 15.02 cents per lb by 1412 GMT, underpinned by a firmer Brazilian currency. March white sugar rose $1.5, or 0.4 percent, to $412.50 a tonne. Cocoa futures on ICE fell near to six-week lows, weighed by light speculative selling.
Traders said cocoa prices were pressured by expectations for weak demand, with the bullish factors - low weekly bean arrivals in top grower Ivory Coast and concerns about West Africa's Harmattan wind - already priced in. March New York cocoa on ICE fell $31, or 1 percent, to $3,208 a tonne, just above Monday's six-week low of $3,205. March London cocoa declined 16 pounds, or 0.7 percent, to 2,232 pounds a tonne, not far from Monday's six-week low of 2,222 pounds. March arabica coffee rose 0.55 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $1.1805 per lb, supported by the firmer Brazilian real. March robusta coffee firmed $11, or 0.7 percent, to $1,519 a tonne.
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