Raw sugar futures ended sharply lower on Friday from month-end investor liquidation and falls in the rest of the commodity complex and the weakness may persist into next week, brokers said. The ICE Futures May electronic sugar contract dropped 0.37 cent to close at 11.73 cents per lb, dealing from 11.65 to 12.13 cents.
On a spot basis, it was the lowest close for sugar since the end of January 2008. "All the commods are down and you can basically trade sugar in that basket," said James Cordier, an analyst at Liberty Trading Group and founder of optionsellers.com.
Some analysts feel sugar has likewise suffered from a dearth of cash activity as many opt for hand-to-mouth buying given the gyrations in trading which make it difficult to price their cargoes, brokers said. The price of sugar has caromed between a 19-month peak hit on the first trading day on March 3 before the fiasco at Bear Stearns sparked investment fund liquidation, which deflated the market down to an 11-week low.
Traders said the market will now looking toward the start of the harvest of the main center-south cane crop in major grower Brazil where the pace of cane processing should pick up in April.
"The question really is what kind of split between (the alternate fuel) ethanol and sugar we will see," one said. The market will also be looking at acceleration in the rollover of positions by investors out of the spot month and into the back months.
The May contract expires on April 30. The side-by-side electronic and pit trading in options began on Friday, but there was no immediate word what kind of volume was seen in the market, traders said. Technicians feel support in the May contract would be at 11.50 and 11 cents, with resistance at 12 and 12.50 cents.
Volume traded in the May contract was at 31,316 lots at 1:32 pm EDT (1732 GMT). Total deals done last on Thursday was at 63,028 lots. Open interest in the No 11 raw sugar market fell 965 lots to 937,623 contracts as of March 27. The US electronic domestic No 14 sugar market showed the May contract down 0.03 cent at 20.49 cents at 1:32 pm. Volume traded in the No 14 market on Thursday was at 592 lots, the exchange said.