New York cocoa at seven-week low; coffee, sugar at multimonth highs

New York cocoa futures fell to the lowest level in more than seven weeks on Thursday, pressured by speculative selling and waves of automatic sell orders, while the spot contract made its biggest monthly drop in more than two years. Meanwhile, coffee and sugar reached multi-month highs as worries lingered about reduced exports from top grower Brazil.
July New York cocoa settled down $75, or 3 percent, at $2,454 per tonne, after falling to $2,444, its lowest since April 9.
Speculative selling, believed to be long liquidation, pressured prices and triggered sell-stops below Tuesday's session low at $2,488 and then again at April's low of $2,474, traders said.
The spot contract closed May down 13.7 percent, its biggest monthly drop since January 2016 as prices came off a 1-1/2-year high, which had been fuelled by speculative buying and lifted the US market's rare premium over London to a 41-year peak.
July London cocoa settled down 48 pounds, or 2.6 percent, at 1,773 pounds per tonne.
July arabica coffee settled up 3.4 cent, or 2.8 percent, at $1.237 per lb, after rising to $1.2405, the highest since Feb. 9. It closed the month up 2.5 percent.
Prices have been partially supported by a truck driver strike in Brazil, which was unwinding while some exporters scrambled to resume operations. The country's May coffee exports were expected to drop by 900,000 60-kg bags.
"Our expectations are for a disappointing (though still very good) harvest in South of Minas," said Rabobank in a report, about a coffee growing region in Brazil.
"The dry weather seen in Brazil over the last three months (and normal from now on, as the dry season starts), is likely to have had an impact on bean sizes, albeit only slightly," Rabobank said.
July robusta coffee settled up $20, or 1.2 percent, at $1,752 per tonne.
July raw sugar settled up 0.19 cent, or 1.5 percent, at 12.79 cents per lb, after reaching 12.85 cents, its highest since March 23.
The spot contract closed May up 11 percent, its biggest monthly gain since September 2016.
Prices have rallied on the back of the production and export disruptions in Brazil, even as a large global supply glut looms.
August white sugar settled up $5.70, or 1.6 percent, at $354.60 per tonne.