Arabica coffee futures on ICE slipped on Friday, with the market back on the defensive as excess global supplies came back into focus, while New York cocoa futures rose to an 11-month high. July arabica coffee settled down 1.1 cent, or 1.1%, at $1.0095 per lb.
Prices fell 3.5% on the week, following two consecutive weeks of increases. "There doesn't seem to be much positive here after the big meltdown (on Wednesday)," said Jack Scoville, vice president at Price Futures Group. "We were trying to move up earlier in the day, we tried to get above the $1.03 area but couldn't...so we're seeing some new selling coming back in."
The contract plunged on Wednesday in its worst daily performance in four years, giving back some of the gains that it made over the past two weeks after hitting a 13-1/2-year low in April. CoffeeNetwork on Friday projected that there would be a marginal global surplus of 0.3 million bags in 2019/20 despite the season being an off-year in Brazil's biennial crop cycle.
July robusta coffee settled down $1, or 0.07%, at $1,430 per tonne. July raw sugar settled down 0.01 cent, or 0.08%, at 12.50 cents per lb. On the week, the contract rose 3.3% in its third straight positive weekly finish. Dealers noted that producer selling above 12.50 cents was helping to keep a lid on the market, with highs of 12.53 cents on Wednesday, 12.52 cents on Thursday and 12.50 cents on Friday.
August white sugar settled down $1.70, or 0.5%, at $337.60 per tonne. July New York cocoa settled up $51, or 2.1%, at $2,478 a tonne. The contract rose 3.3% on the week. The contract touched an eleven-month peak of 2,482, taking out resistance at $2,478, last month's high. Cocoa prices have been buoyed by signals of strong global demand as well as concerns about reduced output from second-largest producer Ghana.
Ghana's graded and sealed cocoa arrivals reached 751,185 tonnes between October 1 and May 23, down 4% year on year, figures from marketing board Cocobod showed. US stockpiles of Venezuelan cocoa swelled in May to levels not seen in at least five years, a Reuters analysis showed, as exporters in the crisis-hit country hit by US sanctions scramble to raise cash however they can. July London cocoa settled up 16 pounds, or 0.9%, at 1,798 pounds per tonne.