LONDON: Raw sugar futures on ICE dipped to a two-week low on Monday with the focus on the expiry of the July contract later in the week, while cocoa and coffee prices were little changed.
SUGAR
July raw sugar was unchanged at 12.22 cents per lb at 1323 GMT after earlier setting a more than two-week low of 12.11 cents.
Dealers said there appeared to be little appetite to take delivery of sugar against the July contract which expires on Friday with physical demand remaining sluggish.
"The looming expiry of July NY (raws) will probably include Central Americans and Mexican deliveries, which may deter potential receivers and anyway implies that there is sugar nobody wants," broker Marex Spectron said in a report.
Selling by Thai producers is also seen limiting the upside potential in the short-term.
"It seems we won't get any upside momentum until the (July) expiry becomes transparent and the producer pricing is no longer a threat," Thomas Kujawa, co-head of softs at Sucden Financial said.
Speculators sharply reduced their net short position in raw sugar on ICE Futures US in the week to June 18 to its smallest since early May, US government data showed on Friday.
August white sugar rose $0.20, or 0.1pc, to $324.80 per tonne.
COCOA
September London cocoa fell 1 pound, or 0.05pc, to 1,843 pounds per tonne. The second month had risen to an 11-month peak of 1,869 pounds on June 12.
Dealers said the market had at least temporarily lost upward momentum partly due to an improving outlook for the mid-crop in top grower Ivory Coast.
Ivory Coast's cocoa mid-crop is expected to reach a record 600,000 tonnes this season, exporters and pod counters said on Friday, up 20pc from the previous season.
"The risk discussed in early winter of crop shortfalls due to excessive dry conditions caused by an El Niño phenomenon has failed to materialise," Commerzbank said in a market note.
September New York cocoa rose $2, or 0.1pc, to $2,504 per tonne.
COFFEE
September arabica coffee rose 0.25 cents, or 0.25pc, to $1.0090 per lb Dealers said the scope for any significant rebound in prices appeared limited, however, due to excess supply.
Coffee stocks held in European ports rose 2.0pc in April, European Coffee Federation (ECF) data showed on Monday.
September robusta coffee was down $3, or 0.2pc, at $1,411 a tonne.
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