Liffe August white sugar closes $30.60 higher at $769.60 per tonne on Friday. Market supported by tight nearby supplies as delays to Brazil's harvest underpinned the market. Liffe September cocoa ended 9 pounds higher at 1,992 pounds a tonne. Market supported by commercial buying as chocolate makers re-stocked following Ivory Coast's resumption of trade in May.
Liffe September robusta coffee ended $26 lower at $2,472 a tonne. Market weighed by losses in oil and many other commodity markets. Agricultural markets trading on ICE Futures US will shut Monday for the Independence Day holiday, and reopen Tuesday, July 5. Sugar prices clawed back from Thursday's steep losses as nearby contracts kept trading at premiums to future months, indicating tight nearby supplies as delays to Brazil's harvest underpinned the market.
"The market's acting like it's having a hard time getting its hands on sugar," said Shawn Hackett, of Hackett Financial Advisors in Florida. "Certainly there's a lot of concern in Brazil about what the crush is, but 30 cent sugar is pretty high relative to the fact we're expecting a surplus," Keith Flury, an analyst at Rabobank said. Earlier this week Brazil's cane industry association said rains in early June slowed harvesting of Brazil's sugarcane crop, cutting the pace of sugar and ethanol production.
"Overall you've got to look at the spread structure and that's still fairly bullish. All the spreads are in backwardation, (and) whilst it's like that I don't think the market's going to sell off," said a London-based broker.
The rise in prices has dampened demand on the physical market as consumers anticipate a supply response will lead to lower prices. Coffee prices gave back recent gains amidst weaker commodity markets and profit-taking ahead of the US long weekend, which were also under pressure from the firm dollar.