Arabica coffee futures jumped to a 34-year peak on Monday due to tight supplies of high-quality beans while raw sugar slid to its lowest level in almost eight months as bumper stockpiles reached the market. Cocoa retreated from a six-week peak reached Friday, and as previously announced the ICE Futures US exchange delayed the start of trading until 7:30 am EDT (1130 GMT) instead of the usual starting time at 2:30 am.
The July arabica coffee contract on ICE Futures US climbed 5.25 cents to conclude at $3.051 per lb, settling at its loftiest level since 1977. Raw sugar futures crumbled to its lowest level in nearly eight months, pressured by the full-bore harvesting of the cane crop in the premier centre-south cane region of top grower/exporter Brazil. A total of 17,603 lots or 894,273 tonnes of raw sugar was delivered, coming hard on the heels of the 18,748 lots or 965,000 tonnes of sugar delivered when the March contract expired.
The July raw sugar contract dropped 0.38 cent to finish at 21.87 cents per lb, its lowest close on a spot basis since September 8, 2010. US cocoa futures corrected lower after scaling a six-week high last Friday as profit-taking depressed values. The July cocoa contract dropped $49 to close at $3,291 per tonne, having rebounded from a session low of $3,243.