London white sugar futures settled mixed on Friday after erasing early gains that were driven by trade buying, and traders said they expected a pick-up in physical offtake in the coming weeks.
Benchmark October settled down $0.80 at $431.80 per tonne, near the middle of the day's range of $436.40 to $429.40. Total volume was a light 3,330 lots.
Several traders said they were bearish on sugar due to plentiful new crop supplies and weak physical demand.
"We've now got a surplus of sugar. Prices may go lower," one trader said, noting that a burst of trade buying early in the session had fizzled out later.
Traders said that a pick-up in offtake was likely due to Middle East buying ahead of Ramazan, noting that tonnages would depend on the level of stocks in importing countries.
COFFEE DOWN:
London robusta ended down on profit-taking, light origin selling and speculative selling on Friday, a day after hitting a 6-1/2-year high, dealers said.
The benchmark September contract settled down $12, or 0.9 percent, at $1,356 a tonne after trading between $1,374 and $1,331. Total volume was a moderate 10,711 lots.
"There was some origin selling and an element of profit-taking," one dealer said.
The suspension of more than 2,000 lots of robusta stored in the Italian port of Trieste added to fears about a lack of physical coffee.
There is a dearth of robusta until beans from the next Vietnamese crop are ready for export from early November.
The market's retreat on Friday also bought down premiums developing on the front months.
The September-November spread weakened to $21 from over $45 on Thursday. November-January was at $48 compared with $36 in the previous session. Vietnam, the world's top robusta producer, could produce up to 950,000 tonnes of beans in the next harvest.
COCOA DECLINES:
London cocoa futures ended down in quiet trade on arbitrage selling on Friday after the dollar weakened against the pound, dealers said. The benchmark September contract settled down 11 pounds, or 1.3 percent, at 840 pounds a tonne after trading between 859 and 837 pounds. Total volume was a low 5,947 lots.
"There was arbitrage selling in London...Otherwise it was really slow," one dealer said. The dollar was last at about 1.91 against the pound after it closed at 1.89 on Thursday. The dealer added trade buying had pushed the market up earlier in the session. The market had been quiet since funds liquidated long positions after the expiry of the July contract last month.
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