London sugar futures closed lower on Monday, weighed by a bearish Licht estimate of the 2006/07 world sugar balance, traders said. December settled down $4.30 at $396.70 per tonne after trading in a range of $403.10 to $393.50 while March finished $5.40 lower at $361.10. Total volume was 7,818 lots.
"The market is very nervous again. The figures from Licht set the pattern," one trader said, referring to the analyst's statement that the scales were tilting towards weak sugar prices because output would clearly outpace consumption in 2006/07.
It put the stocks-to-use ratio at 48.99 percent in 2006/07 from 44.14 percent a year earlier.
COFFEE FALLS:
London robusta coffee futures ended lower on Monday, weakened partly by producer selling and with volume boosted by rolling forward of positions out of November ahead of Wednesday's first tender day. November ended down $26 or 1.7 percent at $1,490 a tonne while January finished $21 or 1.4 percent lower at $1,505. Total volume was a heavy 22,573 lots.
"For the past couple of sessions there has been a pick-up in producer selling in both London and New York," said analyst Andrea Thompson of CoffeeNetwork.
COCOA STEADIES: London cocoa futures closed little changed on Monday with activity centred on origin selling against industry buying and with a good volume of switch trading, traders said.
December settled up one pound at 830 pounds a tonne after trading between 837 and 827 while March finished one pound higher at 847 pounds. Total volume was 10,599 lots.