Raw sugar pares losses from steep slide to nine-month low

Raw sugar futures on ICE pared losses on late-day buying on Friday, after sinking 4 percent in heavy volume to their lowest level in more than nine months on a flurry of chart-based selling around key support at 18 cents per lb. Cocoa futures also fell, while coffee prices turned higher along with the 19-market Thomson Reuters CoreCommodity Index.
May raw sugar futures settled down 0.08 cent, or 0.4 percent, at 18.17 cents per lb, after slumping 4.1 percent to 17.50 cents, the weakest for the front month since early June last year.
Sell-stops were triggered as a series of support levels were breached, but prices rallied off their lows on late-day buying ahead of the weekend, traders said.
The move caused the spreads to move wildly, with the May raw contract briefly falling to a 0.02 cent discount under July from a 0.08 cent discount on Thursday. Meanwhile, the spot white sugar premium over the spot raw contract rallied as high as $114.76, from $108.17 the prior session.
Dealers noted favourable crop conditions in top grower Brazil has reinforced sentiment for a likely global surplus in 2017/18.
China will extend a months-long investigation into sugar imports, the commerce ministry said, effectively delaying a decision by a major sugar consumer whether to impose punitive tariffs on imports of the sweetener.
"Fundamentals are all over the place and have given us nothing concrete; technically the market is oversold - this leads us to a lot of questions over the next month as the Chinese probe continues," said Peter Mooses, senior market strategist for RJO Futures in Chicago.
May white sugar settled down 80 cents, or 0.2 percent, at $509.50 per tonne.
May London cocoa settled down 15 pounds, or 0.9 percent, at 1,636 pounds per tonne. For the week it closed up 2.4 percent, the spot contract's strongest weekly gain since the first week of 2017.
Dealers said the market's run-up this week had been largely driven by chart-based short covering but there were signs the bearish sentiment on widespread expectations for a large global surplus was beginning to reassert itself.
May New York cocoa futures settled down $14, or 0.7 percent, at $2,013 per tonne.
May arabica settled up 0.6 cent, or 0.4 percent, at $1.4205 per lb, while May robusta coffee settled up $1, or 0.05 percent, at $2,184 per tonne.