Liffe August white sugar closed $1.70 higher at $583.70 a tonne on Monday. Prices consolidating just above an 8-month low set late last week with ample supplies from Brazil and Thailand keeping the market on the defensive. Liffe July robusta coffee ended $4 higher at $2,602 a tonne after earlier setting a contract high of $2,636. Prices remain at huge discount to the ICE arabica market where supplies are much tighter.
Liffe July cocoa ends 7 pounds higher at 1,897 pounds a tonne. Market buoyed by gains in other commodity markets but bearish fundamentals kept a lid on prices. Earlier in the day soft commodity prices rebounded along with other commodity markets following last week's biggest drop since 2008.
Commodities bounced up in early trading, revived by a weaker dollar after strong US jobs data on Friday helped restore some confidence to a shaken investment community. "In the short term, prices are going to remain vulnerable to any moves in external markets, any moves in the US dollar and any sense around risk aversion and risk reduction," said Sudakshina Unnikrishnan, an analyst at Barclays Capital.
Raw sugar futures staged a modest rebound from near eight-month lows on investor buying, following a lead from stronger oil prices. But analysts said it was uncertain if the sweetener was stabilising along with the rest of the softs complex after the savage beating it endured from a commodities-wide sell-off last week. Liffe August white sugar were up $3.80 or 0.7 percent to $585.80 per tonne at 1603 GMT, above the eight-month low of $571.90 hit on Thursday.
Coffee prices were also stronger, although arabicas' rise outpaced robustas as tight supplies of high quality beans underpinned New York prices. Liffe July robustas gained $17, or 0.7 percent, $2,615 a tonne, after hitting a contract high at $2,636. Dealers said that large European exchange stocks and expected production increases from robusta exporting countries weighed on the London market. Cocoa prices were swept up in the rise across commodity markets as dealers monitored the first shipments of cocoa coming out of top producer Ivory Coast in months, although bearish fundamentals pressured the US market later in the session.