Liffe white sugar futures eased and cocoa extended gains on Thursday, with volumes expected to be thin as US softs markets were shut for the Independence Day holiday. Liffe robusta coffee was steady, with a focus on producer selling from Indonesia. Ample harvest prospects in top grower Brazil were expected to keep sugar on the defensive.
Liffe August white sugar was down $1.40, or 0.3 percent, at $496.00 a tonne in thin volume of 1,193 lots at 1448 GMT. "It's a little bit of trade and spec dealings. There was a technical bounce up earlier. It's not going to be a busy day with the US on holiday," a London-based white sugar futures broker said.
The weakness of Brazil's real currency could increase producer selling in the key producer. Dealers talked of a wide front-month August/October spread of more than $20 per tonne in Liffe white sugar futures, signalling tight availability of supplies and possibly higher-than-expected consumption of prompt sugar.
September cocoa in London extended gains on technically-driven buying and traded up 38 pounds, or 2.5 percent, to 1,536 pounds a tonne in reasonable volume of 7,621 lots. "It's technical short covering," a London-based cocoa futures broker said. Dealers said the market was boosted partly by some concerns that crops in Ghana may not have received sufficient rainfall. "Many wondered when Ghana new crop selling would resume," Eric Sivry, head of agri options brokerage at broker Marex Spectron, said.
"Ivory Coast is probably the one of the two sellers that has the most work left to do on the new crop with an estimated 575,000-625,000 tonnes worth of forward selling." Liffe September robusta coffee was up $2, or 0.1 percent, at $1,812 a tonne in light volume of 2,425 lots. The contract fell to $1,704 on June 14, the lowest level for the second month since October 2010. "There is an element of short covering coming to London, and we had some early hedging - Indonesia was trading a reasonable clip," one London-based robusta futures broker said.