New York cocoa futures on ICE dropped more than 3 percent on Friday, extending losses after falling to $2,000 per tonne as market participants exited positions ahead of the weekend. Sugar consolidated lower while coffee also fell. September New York cocoa settled down $67 or 3.3 percent, to $1,994 a tonne.
For the week, the spot contract closed lower for the first time in four weeks. September London cocoa settled down 31 pounds, or 1.9 percent, at 1,563 pounds per tonne. As European markets ended their day and United States trade continued, people exited their positions for the weekend, said Peter Mooses, senior market strategist for RJO Futures in Chicago.
Prices turned lower after failing to reach resistance at $2,090. "We needed to get through $2,090 to get another wave through the speculative market, and we didn't get that," said Nick Gentile, managing partner of commodity trading at NickJen Capital.
The market shrugged off more unrest in top producer Ivory Coast, where gunmen attacked a police station, the army said on Friday. October raw sugar settled down 0.17 cent, or 1.2 percent, at 14.14 cents per lb. It closed the week down 1.6 percent, its biggest weekly drop in six weeks.
Dealers said the market was in consolidation mode, a day after a sell-stop prompted a wave of automatic selling by funds, triggering a circuit breaker. "We're within the range of yesterday, which is somewhat of a consolidation, but we're still below what we opened, so that's a little bit of a negative," said Michael McDougall, senior vice president at Newedge USA in New York.
Continued dry weather in Brazil could take a negative short-term effect on the crop, but positive in the long-term, said McDougall, since production has been on the rise. October white sugar settled down $1.90, or 0.5 percent, at $386.90 per tonne.
September arabica coffee settled down 0.05 cent, or 0.04 percent, at $1.4015 per lb, hovering just below a high of $1.4155 touched on Thursday. The spot contract closed the week higher for the sixth straight week. The market has also been lifted recently by growing expectations for tighter supplies.
"Lower exports from Brazil are likely to tighten supplies in (the) global market," ING said in a note, adding exports from the top grower hit a 12-year low in July. September robusta coffee settled down $3, or 0.14 percent, at $2,141 per tonne.