Liffe September cocoa ended 41 pounds higher at 1,959 pounds a tonne on Wednesday. Market extended recent bounce, trading above the 20-month low hit earlier in June. Liffe September robusta coffee ended $18 lower at $2,472 a tonne, trimming gains made on news of a frost on Tuesday in a minor Brazilian coffee region. Liffe August white sugar closes $1.90 higher at $766.70 per tonne as dealers feared the Brazil crop was lower than had been expected.
"The market is trading on the view that the crop in centre-south Brazil is below expectations," said James Kirkup, head of sugar brokerage at ABN AMRO Markets (UK) Ltd. Kirkup said he believed the market had a consensus view that the centre-south Brazil crush would stand at around 530 million tonnes, just below a projection by Brazilian analyst Datagro for 536 million tonnes.
Another London-based dealer said: "The market got overdone to the upside." Brazil's centre-south sugarcane crush was down 23 percent in mid-June, compared with a year ago, at 134.6 million tonnes, cane industry association Unica said, releasing a figure that was below expectations.
"The Unica report out yesterday put fear into the caught-short bears as it seems Brazil may not provide them ammunition," said Thomas Kujawa of Sucden Financial. Dealers focused on expiry of the spot July ICE raw sugar futures contract on Thursday, and said they expected a moderate to large delivery, up to one million tonnes, likely comprising Brazilian and Thai sugars. Concerns over possibly colder conditions in the near future also supported the market. "We've seen some short-covering today, and hints of origin selling," one London-based cocoa futures dealer said.